The Blood Dragon Eye
by RyoshiMorino
Summary: As the two friends clash at the Valley of the End, Sasuke deals Naruto a severe injury, causing a long-forgotten Bloodline to awaken within him. From his father's clan comes a Doujutsu with great risks, and greater rewards if used wisely.
1. Chapter 1

_**I'm gonna say this right now, because I know that there are people on this site that absolutely hate Sasuke, but I do not, so stop reading if you're one of those that hate him, and leave no reviews.**_

 _ **Summary**_

 _ **As the two friends clash at the Valley of the End, Sasuke deals Naruto a severe injury, causing a long-forgotten Bloodline to awaken within him. From his father's clan comes a Doujutsu with great risks, and greater rewards if used wisely**_ _ **.**_

 _ **1: A Visit From the Shinigami**_

* * *

His claws scratched against the metal of Sasuke's headband, leaving a deep cut. As he felt the piercing blow to his chest, he saw Sasuke's eyes widen in shock as his blow landed while the blond's did not.

"Why?" Was the question asked as they began to fall toward the water.

Naruto could only smile as the Chidori pierced through his body. "Because...we...are friends."

They hit the water with an enormous splash, staining the pool red as Sasuke withdrew his arm, his hand-like wings rolling back into his shoulders. Naruto began to sink into the waters, not even bothering to hold his breath. His body was beaten, and battered beyond even the Kyuubi's helping. His chakra network was all but destroyed by overuse of the Bijuu's chakra in the one-tailed state for so long.

 _Heh, figures this is how I'd go_ , he thought to himself as he watched Sasuke swim to the surface for air. _Should'a known, I guess. Dead last in everything, even when I fight with everything I have...oh well, at least I get to see the old man now..._ He closed his eyes as water began filling his lungs. _This is it, no more...I've really had enough..._ Thinking back on his life, what did he really have to lose? Even though he knew why he was hated now, he couldn't bring himself to actually forgive the village. All he was to them was a vent for their hatred toward the Kyuubi he carried.

 _Stupid people,_ he sighed as he sank deeper, _Even I can tell the difference between scroll and the kunai sealed inside it._ His body began to grow cold the deeper he sank, and he knew it was over. Nothing could hurt him now. His life of hardships at the hands of his village's population was over. _I'll miss all my friends,_ he thought, thinking about Shikamaru, Choji, and even Kiba. Three people he considered good friends, even though the latter was a bit of a pain.

Suddenly, he was being hauled upward, his body sailing through the water. Light filled his vision as he broke the surface, someone's arm wrapping around his chest. "Don't you dare die on me, you idiot!" Sasuke's voice growled as he hauled him toward the shore. "You don't get off that easy! If I'm gonna kill you in a fight, it's not gonna be from a freebie!"

Naruto rolled his eyes toward the boy, "What...the hell...are you doing, you bastard?" He asked weakly, "I thought you wanted those damned eyes of yours?"

He felt his feet touch the ground as Sasuke dragged him out of the water, "Not like this!" He growled, "It's not worth it!" He said, and hauled him onto the shore, collapsing onto the beach. "Dammit!" Sasuke lay sprawled out on the ground, not even caring about the stones digging into his back. "What the hell's wrong with me?!"

Naruto snorted, "You're seriously asking me that?" He said, his voice hoarse, "I could make a list a mile long if I could lift my arms right now."

Sasuke scowled at him, frowning as he saw that blood from his wound seeping onto the ground. "That's...that's not what I meant..."

 _Why isn't he healing?_ The Uchiha wondered, _I've seen him come back from some pretty nast wounds, but this one's not even trying to heal!_ Naruto sighed tiredly, lifting one hand to see the blood on his finger tips. A small smirk came to his lips, "You might as well tell me what's on your mind, ya moody jackass." He sighed, "I'll probably be taking whatever you say to the grave after this one."

He scoffed at that, "Like you'd die just from that," he grumbled, "I've seen you get hit pretty bad sometimes, and come back from it just a little later, and you just took a Chidori to the lung not fifteen minutes ago, then it healed right in front of my eyes...what the hell's up with that?"

Naruto's smirk dropped and the blond teen sighed, "Guess I could tell you...not like it matters anymore," he sighed, looking up at the dreary sky. "You ever wonder how come all the villagers, even some of the seasoned Jonin keep their distance from me?"

Sasuke arched his brow at him, "What? Did you pull some kind of prank on them?" He asked, to which Naruto shook his head.

"No, it's more like the worst prank in history was played on me when I was born," he said, his hand moving to his stomach, "You know the old yarn about how the Fourth Hokage defeated the Kyuubi at the cost of his own life right? Well, that's not so true. He couldn't kill it, because it was a being made of the purest chakra...so he sealed it away into a newborn baby...which just so happened to be me."

Sasuke widened his eyes ever so slightly as he put what had happened during their battle together. The healing, the cloak of chakra shaped like a fox, and the intense killing intent he had felt before the blond had attacked him.

"All this time," Sasuke sighed, looking down at his teammate, "And you never said a word...why?"

Naruto shook his head, "I was terrified." He said, "When I first found out about it...I was told that I had been responsible for all the lives lost because the of the Kyuubi's attack." Thinking back on Mizuki's words to him back then, it was like getting hit with Sasuke's Chidori a thousand times over. Iruka had been like the father he had always wanted to him, and for a horrible moment he had thought he was the one that had taken his parents from him. "If it wasn't for Iruka-sensei, I probably would've gone over the edge." Naruto went on, "When we formed Team 7, I thought about telling both you and Sakura, since Kakashi-sensei already knew since he was a Jonin, but I was just...too scared about what you guys would think of me if you found out I had something like that tucked away in my body."

Sasuke nodded, "I can understand that," he said, sighing, "It's sorta like my clan and the Mangekyou Sharingan. All that power comes with a steep price."

Naruto nodded silently, his breath coming in ragged intakes of air. Sasuke looked down at him, "Hey, you hang in there, got it? You'll heal up soon, right?" He asked, beginning to worry.

Naruto smiled and shook his head, "Not this time...you got me good, you bastard." Sasuke's breath caught in his throat as the blond Jinchuuriki started coughing, blood splattering the front of his ruined jacket.

"Hey, this isn't a joke, you idiot!" Sasuke snapped, leaning over his friend, "Don't you dare die on me! Not after all the shit we've been through!"

Naruto chuckled, "We've been through some pretty nasty shit, huh?" He laughed, coughing again, "Do me a favor, huh?"

"What?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto looked at him pleadingly, "I know you don't want to go back to the leaf, but please do it...Sakura-chan needs you...and...you need her...even if you don't wanna admit it." He grinned as the black-haired teen scowled, "And...take my body back...s'not like I've got any family to morn me, but I'd at least like a proper burial..."

Naruto's eyes began to close, but Sasuke grasped him by the shoulder, "Don't you dare!" He snarled, grasping him by the arms, and hauling him up and over his back, his black eyes glimmering, "I'll take you back to your precious village, dammit, but you gotta hold on!"

Naruto shook his head tiredly, "Don't think I can..."

"You'd better!" Sasuke snapped, and made his way to the wall of the valley, "Now, hang on tight, or I'll drop you!"

Naruto tightened his arms around his friend's neck as well as could be expected, what with the little strength he had left. "You should just let me rest."

"Rest is for the weak," Sasuke told him, "And you're not weak...you're way stronger than I could ever hope to be."

Naruto didn't answer having slipped into a blissful state of unconsciousness, his breathing coming in shorter breaths.

=x=

Pakkun and Kakashi sped through the trees as they became more and more desperate to find the two missing students. "Are we making any progress, yet?" He asked the pug.

"We're getting closer," Pakkun said, "But we need to hurry, there's a storm coming in, and the rain'll wash away the scent if we take too much longer."

"Then we really need to pick up the pace," Kakashi said, pushing more chakra into his legs to speed himself up, "Those two could easily kill each other if things go badly!"

Pakkun nodded, then sniffed, "Hey, there's someone up ahead!"

"Is it them?" Kakashi asked, but the pug simply darted down from the trees and hit the ground. Kakashi followed him and found the area around them desecrated. "What the hell happened here?" All of the trees around the area had been sliced, and cut down by what looked like a powerful wind technique.

Pakkun was sniffing the ground, "Hey, I know this scent...it's that Nara kid...and someone from the Sand village," the dog sniffed again, making his way toward a pile of logs, "And..." He stopped short as a moan from the pile caught his attention. "Hey, Kakashi! Someone's still alive!"

No sooner had he said that then someone tumbled out of the pile of logs, beaten and bloody. Kakashi was moving double quick as the person would have hit the ground had he not acted.

A curtain of light red hair fell from beneath a black cap atop the girl's head. Her face was fair, yet pale from blood loss, her breathing ragged and uneven as blood trickled from her lips. Around her hips was a metal plate with a single musical note etched into the metal. A Sound Hitai-ate.

"She's from the Oto." Kakshi breathed out, his conscience conflicting with his sense of duty to his students.

He laid her down on the ground, and prepared to leave, "It's better to leave her - "

"M...mother..."

Kakashi stopped in his tracks, Pakkun at his heels. The dog summons looked up at him, "Gonna help her?"

The Jonin sighed, "Dammit..." He turned around and reached into his pouch for his first aid scroll. "I have to make this quick." He said, making the ram seal, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

=x=

Panting from exhaustion, Sasuke kept himself moving through the dense forest that led to Konoha, his neck pulsing painfully as the curse mark tried to take over again, making his movements all the slower.

"Keep talking, Naruto," Sasuke grunted, jostling the blond awake again, "Tell me who you were gonna take to the Rinne Festival this year?"

Naruto blinked his clouded eyes, the blue having become dull, "The...Rinne Festival..." he shook his head, "the vendors...always chased me away..."

"Not this time," Sasuke assured him, sweat beading his brow, "We can all go together if you want...you, me, and Sakura, hell even Kakashi if we can get him away from that damned book!"

A small, weak smile played across his lips, "That sounds...really nice..." he said tiredly, "I get to go...with my family..."

Sasuke almost laughed at being considered family to the blond when he suddenly felt his teammate become much, much heavier as he slumped over, unbalancing the Uchiha. "H-Hey! Naruto!" Sasuke tumbled to the ground, doing his best to keep Naruto from falling.

He laid the blond on the ground, his front covered in blood, and checked for a pulse...and found nothing. "No...no, this can't happen!" Sasuke rose to his feet, shouting, "Hey! Is anyone out there?!" He roared, "Shikamaru! Choji! KIBAAAA! Someone help!"

"SASUKE!" Kakashi's voice reached his ears as a small amount of hope came back and the Jonin landed neatly in front of him, "What's going on!?"

"It's Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, "He's got no pulse!"

Kakashi acted immediately, setting down the girl Sasuke only just noticed he was carrying on his back, and hurried over to the prone blond. Upon seeing the wound in his chest, he looked at Sasuke, disappointment clear on his face, "We'll talk about this later, Sasuke, and you'd better hope he lives, or else not even I could, or would save you from Tsunade!"

"Just do something already!" The Uchiha snapped, "I don't care what happens to me anymore, just help him!"

Kakashi didn't need to be told twice and charged his hand with Lighting chakra, "Stand back," he placed his hand over the boy's heart, and sent a surge pulsing through him, Naruto's body jolting. A single heart beat...and then nothing. "Dammit, again!" He sent another pulse through him.

"Come on, Dead Last," Sasuke growled, watching his friend jolt from the shock, "Don't do this!"

"Again!" The blond was shocked once more as Kakashi started to become desperate, "Come on, Naruto! Come back to us!" He roared, shocking him again.

Sasuke sank to his knees, warm tears leaking down from his eyes, "Dammit..."

"He's not gone!" Kakashi snapped, seeing the blood tears leaking from the boy's eyes, which meant only one thing, "Come on, Naruto!" He roared, and sent an even stronger shock through his body, head to toe.

"Kakashi," Pakkun said, resting a paw on his knee, "That's enough...let the boy rest, now."

the Jonin sat back, his hands smoking from his jutsu, "This is my fault..." he looked over at Sasuke, who was staring unbelieving at Naruto's body, "I should've seen this coming sooner."

Sasuke looked up at him with changed eyes filled with sorrow, "How is this your fault...I'm the one that...did this...I killed my best friend!"

=x=

The Kyuubi watched as his cage began to dissolve, his eyes lowering to the prone body in front of him as a gate opened up at the end of the hallway. A petite figure made its way into his seal, a katana at their hip.

The Kyuubi snarled at the figure, " **Come no closer, Shinigami.** " He growled, " **This boy belongs to me!** "

The Shinigami looked up at the beast without fear, "I am afraid that I cannot do that." The Shinigami said in a feminine voice, "His soul has only remained in this realm because of your will, but you cannot keep him here. Bringing back the dead is beyond you."

The fox grinned maliciously, " **Is that so, little death god?** " His grin turned into a sneer, " **Do you not know this boy, Shinigami? His father was from a clan long forgotten. They had a Doujutsu comparable to that damnable Sharingan the Uchiha coveted so!** "

The Shinigami cocked her head in a curious manner, "And your point? A Doujutsu is useless to a corpse."

" **The Doujutsu can only be awakened when the bearer has come into contact with death,** " the fox grinned, leaning his mighty head down toward the boy, his chakra beginning to boiled around him in a red/gold haze, " **And here you are, a god of death, so near to a bearer of the Kerryugan!** "

"What?" The Shinigami finally seemed surprised, "The Kerryugan? Him?" She asked, looking down at the boy.

The Kyuubi nodded his head, " **Difficult as it is, this boy has the Eye of the Blood Dragon, which will make him great. No longer will he be on the recieving end of the wrath of those that hate him. He will rise above them all, or crush them under his heel!** "

The Shinigami scoffed as she regarded the boy, "If you truly knew anything about Uzumaki Naruto, then you would know that he would never mistreat a power such as the Kerryugan." She said, kneeling toward the boy, stroking his hair from his face, "He is too kind and gentle for such a thing." She looked back up at the beast, "He will be great, but not as you would have him, Kurama."

Kurama growled at the use of his true name, but allowed as the Shinigami were to be respected, even by his kind. " **Step away, now...I need to revive him.** "

The Shinigami stepped back, allowing the small mercy as the fox's chakra spread from his body, and wrapped around the thirteen-year-old boy. As the Shinigami retreated back to her realm, she felt the boy's heart begin to beat again. A smile came to her lips as she hoped that it would be a long time before she claimed the young Uzumaki's life.

=x=

Tayuya of the Sound Four had seen better days as she began to stir. Her entire body was racked with pain as the slightest movement nearly caused her to scream. Even though the pain was great, she forced herself to sit up, and take in her surroundings. She was no longer under the pile of trees that the Suna Kunoichi had knocked down on top of her. She was in a clearing.

Her wounds, though they still pained her, were bandaged and treated, making her wonder, _Just what the fucking hell's going on?_

Her answer came as the scream of a young man reached her ears. She looked around, and caught sight of the Uchiha she was sent after, along with Hatake Kakashi kneeling around the blond she remembered jumping over her as she prepared to fight that lazy ass Nara!

The blond in question was writhing in pain, his body convulsing in horrible ways as a veil of red chakra cocooned around him.

"What's happening to him?!" Sasuke demanded.

"It's the Kyuubi," Kakashi said while watching the wound on his chest close, leaving a faint, yet noticeable scar right next to the other Sasuke had put in his chest. "It's...saving him!"

Sasuke sighed in relief, "Good...that's good..." As the relief of Naruto's renewed life flooded through him, so did the sheer exhaustion as he collapsed to the ground, falling unconscious.

Kakashi sighed at his two students, "You two...are going to send me to an early grave..."

Tayuya had been watching as the man turned to her, "Ah, so you're awake, are you?" He said, and she nodded, "Good, because I can't carry all three of you at once, even with the aid of Shadow Clones. I had to be quick about fixing you up."

Tayuya looked at the man in surprise. Why in the world would an enemy shinobi save her life, especially considering she had aided in the death of his Kage, and tried to kidnap a prominent clan heir?

"What the hell do you want from me?" Tayuya asked, snarling at him, instinctively reaching for her flute, which, of course, was no longer there, but destroyed when she had been hit with Temari's wind jutsu.

Kakashi sighed, and sat beside his blond student, no longer thrashing, "I want nothign for the moment, but I think my Hokage will have a few questions for you since you work for her former teammate."

"Former...ah, shit, you mean Tsunade, don't you?" Tayuya grumbled, "What's to stop me from getting my ass outta here before you get a chance to take me to her?"

"Well, first of all," Kakashi smirked beneath his mask, "Your left leg has multiple fractures, while your right leg is snapped in half," he pointed to the makeshift splint he had put in place, "So you really won't be going anywhere for the time being." He said before gaining a far more serious expression, "Second, I could easily put a kunai through your skull before you took two steps." Tayuya gulped as a kunai flashed into his hand, "Are these good enough reasons to stay put?"

She nodded wordlessly as he eye-smiled at her and put the blade away, "Pakkun," he called out, and a small brown dog came bounding out of the trees, "Go catch up to the medical teams, and lead them back here. Tell them I have three injured shinobi, and be sure to come prepared to treat extreme chakra exhaustion."

The pug saluted with a raised paw, "You got it, Kakashi." He bounded back into the trees, leaving the three humans alone again as Tayuya stared after the little animal.

"Talking...dogs...alright, then." She reached up to her head, thinking she had gotten hit harder than she thought.

* * *

 _ **Well, I have yet another manic story out and about. I don't know if I'm going to do the whole Akatsuki + Fourth Shinobi War skit, which seems to be getting old on FF, so bare with me until I get my head around a clear ending.**_

 _ **Naruto's Doujutsu is a Canon Doujutsu, Kerryugan, that resembles the Sharingan, save for that fact that it's a simple red eye with a round pupil, and no Tomoe around it. It creates extremely realistic Genjutsu, and allows the user to control blood, or liquid iron, so it's basically a combo of magnet release, and blood release since blood has iron in it. But, I have it as basically a blood controlling Doujutsu.**_

 _ **Hope you liked the story, and want to see more. If so, leave a review, if not...don't :p Sayonara!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**2: Legacy of the Fourth: The Chinoike Clan of Kaminari no Kuni**_

* * *

Tsunade Senju, Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, had half a mind to retire the moment she heard the full story of what had transpired during the retrieval mission she had assigned to Shikamaru and Naruto only two days ago. So far she had three young Genin in the ICU, and one badly injured Ninken, while the rest of the team only suffered minor injuries, Shikamaru coming our of it with only a self-inflicted wound; a broken finger.

And then there was the issue of the person they had been sent out to retrieve. Sasuke Uchiha, who was currently standing before her, covered in bandages, and looking more shameful than she had ever seen the boy. From the short time that she had known him, she had seen his arrogance, and his foolish pride which all Uchiha seemed to have an abundance of. Now, the boy looked like a proverbial kicked puppy.

"Explain to me," she said in a low tone, " _Why_ did you leave this village?"

Sasuke shook his head, "I...I was jealous."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at him, "That's your explanation, Uchiha? _Jealousy_?" She stood up from her seat and walked slowly around her desk. Sasuke looked up at her and received a sharp crack across his face. "Do you think I'm stupid!?" She snapped as the boy held his stinging cheek, "Jealousy is capable of many things, Sasuke, but I have Neji Hyuuga, a prodigy such as yourself, in the hospital with a gaping hole just above his _heart_ , and Choji Akimichi is suffering from extreme _chakra poisoning_ from his clan's secret food pills!" She placed her hand under his chin to make him look at her, "And do you know what happened to Naruto?" She asked bitingly, "Of course you do, you're the one that _nearly killed_ _him_!"

Sasuke flinched before he was slapped again. He didn't mind, though, he had it coming, and much more.

"Give me _one_ good reason I shouldn't have you thrown in prison for desertion!" Tsunade growled, daring him.

Sasuke shook his head, "I can't...and you _should_ have me imprisoned." Sasuke looked up at her, "I really was jealous...of how much _stronger_ than me Naruto was becoming..." he looked down at he feet, "We'd competed against each other for the longest time, ever since academy, and I was always miles ahead of him...when we were put on the same team, I was still ahead of him, but he started catching up..."

"So you decided to kill him?"

" _No_ ," Sasuke snapped, "I thought I could do it, but I couldn't! I'm not like Itachi!"

Tsunade regarded the boy for a moment her arms crossed, "Tell me something, do you know what could have happened to you if you had succeeded in going to Orochimaru?"

Sasuke nodded his head, "He would have taken my body from me."

"And you still went to him," Tsunade growled, "You're a fool, Sasuke Uchiha. I've read reports about you during your academy days. You were hailed as one of the few geniuses born once ever generation in this village. Neji, cursed to the branch family of the Hyuuga, is one of them, and you...I have no doubts that you could be a great shinobi someday...but within the last forty-eight hours, you have become this village's greatest shame. If it weren't for the fact that the civilians would throw a fit, and possibly riot, I'd have you clapped in irons for the rest of your days!"

She went around her desk to sit back down, and sighed, "As it stands, I can't run that risk, not when our village is still recovering from the combined attack of Suna and Oto. So, this is what your punishment shall be, Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke squared his shoulders, prepared for anything the Godaime might throw at him. "From this moment on, you are _banned_ from all Chunin exams, and the only way for you to rise through the ranks is to earn it in the field. Should your Jonin speak well of you, you may possibly be promoted, but if not, you will remain a Genin." She said, glaring as the boy nodded, unphased, "Further more, you will undergo psychological evaluation by our best men in the T &I department, and if they deem you unfit for active duty, then that will be the _end_ of your career as a shinobi...is that understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," he bowed.

"Good," she rose from her seat, "now get out...I have to go in and see the progress of the people that nearly died bringing your sorry hide back."

Sasuke hurried out of the woman's office, hoping to avoid anyone else as he made his way home, escorted by a squad of Anbu for good measure. As he passed through the village, he was greeted by smiles from the civilians, and a few "welcome backs"...it made him sick. Really, what had h done to warrant such kindness?

He reached his home, and went immediately to the bathroom, staring into the mirror. His eyes, black as onyx, turned red as he activated his Sharingan, and a moment later, the Sharingan morphed as blood began leaking from his eyes, taking the appearance of three intersecting ellipses. His Mangekyou Sharingan.

He had been surprised to learn that he had activated the advanced Doujutsu, but then again, his best friend had died right in front of him...if only for a few minutes.

Now he was the same as his brother. It had cost him more, however. Itachi had slaughtered his entire family...Sasuke had watched his best friend die, and lost every last ounce of respect for himself. He knew that there were a few members of his clan that actually had the Mangekyou because of the war, but they had been the lucky ones. None of them had to actually kill their precious people...precious people, he almost smiled at that. Naruto considered him to be one of his precious people because of their friendship, as well as Sakura and Kakashi, and many of their classmates.

Did he deserve that? Absolutely not.

If he was allowed to remain a shinobi after all of this, he knew that he would be treading on glass as thin as rice paper. One wrong step, and it would end him. So he would fight for it. No more arrogance, or hatred...that was what his brother wanted from him...and he would not get it. If he met him again, as he had when the man went after Naruto, then he would fight with everything he had to bring him in. But not before asking him... _why_?

=x=

Naruto felt extremely comfortable for once. He hadn't known he could sleep so well, but his bed never felt so good before. He stretched and opened his eyes...to find himself in a hospital room...

His body, to his surprise, was covered in bandages as was his face when he looked toward the mirror in the corner of the room. "Well, I guess I survived, huh?" He said aloud, smirking, "Guess Sasuke got me to the village faster than I thought?"

"Hey, Shithead, keep it down, will ya!?" A loud voice from beside him snapped, startling him, "Some of us are trying to fucking sleep!"

The blond whipped around, making his head spin with dizziness, and found an irritated red-head glaring at him from her own hospital bed. Naruto blinked in confusion for a moment before it dawned on him. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me?!" Naruto roared, nearly deafening the girl, "What the hell are _you_ doing here?!"

Tayuya growled and stuffed a pillow over her head, "I _was_ sleeping until a blond loud mouth decided to start squawking like a fucking cuckoo!"

"I mean, why aren't you in jail?" Naruto growled, crossing his arms, "Ain't you an enemy or something?"

Tayuya sat up and wince as her legs pained her, "Definitely an _'or something'_ , Shithead." She said, "That one-eyed prick decided I was worth saving for information, so he patched me up and brought me back here with you and your dumb ass friend!"

"Hey, don't call me a shithead!" Naruto roared.

"I just call'em like I see'em, Shithead," Tayuya smirked, enjoying the blond's reactions, "And you really look like a shithead!"

"Nyah, eat it ya red-haired skank!"

"Wha'd you call me?!"

"What's the matter, can't take the truth?!" Naruto grinned.

"If I could walk, I'd come over their and wipe that fucking grin right off that ugly mug of yours, asshole!" Tayuya snarled, to which Naruto sprang up onto his bed.

"Oh, lookie here, I can walk and move around real easy!" Naruto said, hopping up and down, rubbing in the fact that he could use his legs before nimbly dodging a pillow she threw at him. "Haha, ya missed me!"

"Argh, wait 'til I get my hands on you, ya cunt munchin' little - "

The door suddenly slammed open in the middle of their argument, and Tsunade stood there with a very angry look upon her face. She looked at the pair, and growled, "I might have known it was you two causing all the trouble this early in the morning." She said, moving into the room, and whacked Naruto on the head with her clipboard, "Sit down, knucklehead, and stop antagonizing your roommate."

"Ah, she started it!" Naruto said accusingly, pointing at the grinning girl, who stuck her tongue out at him, earning herself a whack on the head as well.

"Hey!"

" _You_ can stop baiting him," she told the girl, "It'll only cause more noise, and that is something I won't tolerate in my hospital!"

"Yes, Ma'am," both said, holding their sore heads, before glaring at each other.

"Now," she said, making the two snap to attention, "Naruto-kun, I need to know, what happened between you and Sasuke? I heard his side of the story, but I want to make sure it matches up."

So Naruto told her about the fight...or, he started to. As he spoke, his eyes began to turn from their usual blue hues, to a blood red in color. What happened next startled even the blond as the room began to waver, and they were all suddenly back at the valley of the end.

"What in the - ?!" Tsunade started.

"It's a Genjutsu," Tayuya said in wonder as she watched an illusionary Naruto and Sasuke face off "A _powerful_ one." Sasuke had the blond by the throat, his arm charged with Lightning chakra and Naruto himself was boiling with a strange red chakra she'd never seen before.

As Sasuke made the attack, Naruto's arm shot up and moved the attack away from his heart, but the wound would have still been fatal, which horrified Tsunade and even Tayuya as they looked at the real blond in the room. His eyes were wide as he watched the scene unfold again.

"Are _you_ doing this?" Tayuya asked, not knowing the blond had such skill with illusions.

Naruto looked at her with his red eyes, "I...I don't know...I've never been any good with Genjutsu before."

Tsunade winced as Naruto's illusion self went down on all fours as the Nine Tails chakra cloak formed around him. "It has to be," Tsunade said, "You were the only ones there to witness this battle, so this must be a projection from your memories." She said, looking at the blond, and her eye widened, "Naruto, what happened to your _eyes_?!"

"My eyes?" Naruto asked.

Tayuya nodded, "Fuck yeah, they're red as blood, and glowing!"

"Do you feel any chakra flowing toward your eyes right now?" Tsunade asked.

Naruto sat for a moment as he watched himself and Sasuke leap at each other, the Uchiha flying at him with those hand-like wings.

When the battle was over, and his conversation with Sasuke started, Tsunade watched the pair in interest, finding that Sasuke had left a few things out, such as the fact that he was the one that had carried Naruto out of the valley, and that he now knew about the Kyuubi.

Finally, as Naruto slumped over on Sasuke's shoulders, the scenes changed. And it was one that Tsunade never wanted to see. Tayuya shrieked in alarm as she found herself surrounded by water in front of a gigantic prison cell where two enormous red eyes gleamed menacingly. The Nine-tailed Fox then began speaking to the diminutive Shinigami about the power her presence had unleashed inside of Naruto.

Naruto's hand raised up to his eyes, not believing what he was hearing from the beast, or the Shinigami. He had a Doujutsu? From his father?!

As the vision began to fade, Naruto's eyes returned to normal, and they found themselves back in the hospital room. Tsunade was looking at the blond again, a somber look on her face, "Naruto-kun, I don't know what to say..."

"You knew them, right?" He asked, "My parents?"

Her answer was a slow nod, "I did...and so did Jiraiya...but your father never showed signs of a Doujutsu like this!"

Tayuya sat back, thinking, "Well, that giant fuzzball did say that it could only be activated by coming close to death, and from what we just saw, Shithead here came _real_ fuckin' close to death, literally."

Tsunade nodded, looking at the girl, "Have you heard of this Doujutsu before?"

"Ah," Tayuya held up her hands, "Listen, I get that I'm a prisoner of war and all that, but come on, I'm not givin' our info for free here!"

Tsunade crossed her arms under her bust, glaring at the girl, "And I suppose you think we've been mistreating you?"

"No!" Tayuya said, "You guys have treated me way better than that fucker I used to work for. Hell, he would've put a knife in my head himself for just having a fractured leg, let alone a fuckin' snapped leg!"

The blonde woman huffed, "Then what do you want?"

"Sanctuary," the young woman said, "I want to be as far away from Orochimaru as fucking possible! And I want this seal on the back of my neck gone if your seal masters can do it."

Tsunade smirked, "And I suppose you'd like to become a shinobi of this village, then?"

Tayuya shrugged, "I've gotta make a living somehow, don't I?" She said, crossing her arms as well, "I don't do well with charity."

Tsunade sighed and smirked for a moment, "You know what? I like you...alright, you have my word that you can stay on in Konoha as one of our kunoichi, and that we'll do our utmost to get rid of that mark on your neck. In exchange, you will provide us with information on Orochimaru, and anything else that you think we might need to know...do we have a deal?"

"Deal!" Tayuya said, reaching out to shake her hand.

"Good," Tsunade smiled, "Now about Naruto's Doujutsu?"

Tayuya shruggd again, "As far as I know, a Kerryugan user hasn't been seen for decades." She said, looking at the blond Genin, "But what I don't get is why it showed up in this guy?"

"Why do you say that?" Tsunade asked.

"It was distinct only to one clan, and they were from Kaminari," Tayuya said, "And ain't you guys on bad terms, or something?"

Tsunade nodded, sighing, "Yes, we are. After the kidnapping incident with the Hyuuga, all Kumo shinobi have a kill on sight mark." She said, looking at Naruto, "But I do know that Naruto's father came from a small village in Kumo before it was destroyed and made his way here with the refugees."

"Can you tell me about him?" Naruto asked hopefully, only to deflate as Tsunade shook her head, "Why not, Granny?"

Sighing, and ignoring the jibe at her age, she sat down beside him, "Because it isn't my place...not really. Jiraiya will have to tell you. He was closer to him than I was...I was closer to your mother." She said, smiling, "After all, she and I were distant relatives, by blood, no less."

"Really?" Naruto brightened, "Then I really can call you Granny!"

"You do and I'll mop the floor with you," she growled, "if anything, I'm your cousin, distant cousin!"

Naruto just grinned, "Yeah, yeah, just keep telling yourself that, Granny!"

Scowling, she decided to change the subject, "Anyway, Tayuya, was it? What else can you tell us about this Kerryugan?"

Tayuya shrugged, slightly amazed that the blond loudmouth was still alive at this point, "Only rumors...I heard from Kabuto once that he wanted to try and find a survivor because there was a chance that Kerryugan users could control blood."

"Blood?" Naruto and Tsunade grimaced, "That doesn't sound very pleasant?"

"I wouldn't say it was," Tayuya went on, "Other than that, their Genjutsu were supposed to be so strong that they rivaled anyone with a Sharingan."

Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose. This was going to cause problems, she just knew it. Kumo were a very warlike people, and they had a lust for Kekkei Genkai, much like her own village, but worse. It was rumored that the Sandaime Raikage had actually set up a breeding program to cultivate multiple clans that had such abilities, and if word got out that Konoha had another Doujutsu, and one that once belonged to the Land of Lightning, it would only be a matter of time before they came for him.

Add to the fact that Naruto was an Uzumaki in name, and in blood, it was a disaster waiting to happen. The only plus side to this was that the village would treat Naruto slightly better in knowing that he had a rare Kekkei Genkai.

"So?" Naruto asked, "What was this clan called?"

Tayuya sighed, "It was the Chinoike clan, and they were rumored to pretty timid as far as being active shinobi went, but if you got into a fight with one of them, look out."

"You're also an Uzumaki," Tsunade put in, "They were the greatest Sealing Masters the shinobi world had ever seen, and savage in battle, with tempers so quick it wasn't funny."

"I know about them," Tayuya put in, "Orochimaru has a girl in one of his bases that's supposed to be an Uzumaki. She's got red hair, like me, and pretty fair skin, but other than that, she didn't seem all that fuckin' good a kunoichi."

"Red hair, huh?" Naruto asked, looking at the girl, "Does that mean you could be one, too?"

"Huh?" Tayuya looked at him like he was stupid, "What the fuck're you talkin' about, Shithead?"

Naruto shrugged, ignoring his, apparently, new nickname, "Well, you said the Uzumaki have red hair," he said, pointing at his head, "I've got blond hair, but you've got red hair, just like you said they did, so..."

Tsunade nodded, smirking, "He does have a point...I'll have to do some blood work on that to see if he's right." She said, smiling at the red-head, "And if he's right, then I've got all the more reason to protect you from Orochimaru."

"When do you want to start?" Tayuya asked, not eager to have more needles pushed into her arm, but she figured these people would be nicer about it than either Kabuto or Orochimaru.

Tsunade checked the chart at the end of Tayuya's bed, and sighed, "It's going to take a full week for us to heal up your legs, and it'll take another day or so for Jiraiya to examine the seal, and there's really no telling how long it'll take him to devise a better counter measure for it. Sasuke will take the priority level higher than usual, but it'll still take a while." She said, looking at the girl, "Really, any information you can give us on the mark will be more than helpful."

Tayuya shrugged, "I'm a level three Master at sealing, but all I know about this thing on my neck is that it's a modified five layered servitude seal." She said, "Each one is different than the other. Mine is low level compared to what Kimimaro's was, and he had the same one that that Uchiha did. Mine is more like an enslavement mark. If I disobeyed a direct order given by Orochimaru while he was keeping tabs on me, I'd be dead within minutes."

"What about the physical transformations I've heard about from the others?" Tsunade asked, "And what we witnessed in Naruto's Genjutsu?"

"It's the final layer of the seal that does that, and it's probably the most dangerous to mess with," Tayuya sighed, "The last fucker that did had to be restrained, and put down because he went wild, and started killing anyone that got near him. He even nearly got Kimimaro, and he was the most powerful shinobi under Orochimaru's command." She said, "I don't know much about that last seal, but I do know that it draws in a special chakra and enhances the body while pumping me full of some kind of drug. I've only ever used that last seal three times, and each time it's harder to control myself when I come down from the high."

Tsunade, throughout Tayuya's description, had ben jotting it all down for Jiraiya's benefit. She had a bad feeling that she knew where that strange chakra was coming from. As she rose to leave, she gave both children a smile, and hoped that they could get along...for a while, and left them, her mind swimming with everything that she had just found out.

One: Sasuke had told her a half-truth, and had made him seem worse than what was said, having told her that Kakashi was the one that found them in the valley. Two: Naruto had an incredibly rare Doujutsu, apparently from Minato's side of the family that had lain dormant until now, and it was powerful. Three: the seal would be damned hard to remove, but not impossible given Tayuya's information. And four: There were other Uzumaki out there, and Orochimaru had one of them...part of her family...

That would have to change.

=x=

Meanwhile, outside of Naruto and Tayuya's hospital room sat Jiraiya, having overhead everything that had been said. He ran his hand over his face tiredly, and figured it was high time to tell Naruto just who he was...and hope that he could bare with it all.

"EAT SHIT, YA PISS-BRAINED MORON!"

Jiraiya nearly fell from his perch as another argument started up between the two, and smiled. "Damned if that girl doesn't remind me of the kid's mother!" He laughed, peeking inside to see Naruto taunting her as Tayuya threw whatever she could get her hands on at him.

"You're not trying, Red! Throw somethin' already!" Naruto taunted, and was promptly smacked in the face by a bed pan. "GAH! That better have been clean!"

"It wasn't!" Tayuya laughed.

"GROSS!"

* * *

 _ **Woo, glad to see this story is so well liked, now onto some feedback from the reviewers!**_

 _ **draven32: I'm glad to know that you thought the beginning was so moving, honestly, Sasuke's pretty emotional, he just needs a few screws tightened here and there.**_

 _ **Kam615: No need to worry about me canceling anything, Seeing Red and Return of the Uzumaki are still on my priority list, I just needed to get my sparks out before I went nuts.**_

 _ **Amalgam24: Honestly, I was thinking about her when I did the Shinigami bit, but I never described as Rukia :p**_

 _ **The Sith'ari: As far as Canon goes, there was only one technique that the Kerryugan used blood as a weapon, and it was pretty much an A-rank Jutsu, and strong enough to restrain Sasuke's Susanoo.**_

 _ **Guest: A very intriguing read and it was only the first chapter! This fic is definately top quality, just like many of your other fics. The hidden Dojutsu idea has become a very big cliché in this fandom but you have the potential to make it work.**_  
 _ **I also like how Sasuke is portrayed but I can see some problems that can arise from this. In canon, Naruto gained motivation because of a goal (bringing Sasuke back). Now that Sasuke has decided to stay, I wonder from what situations and circumstances Naruto will gain motivation. Hope this doesn't become a plot hole. Other than that, Kudos!**_

 _ **Me: Since I couldn't give you a name, I just copied the review, and I can say that Naruto will be getting a different motivation other than bringing Sasuke back. And I can say that I think you'll like it.**_

 _ **EndlessChains: Thanks for that, and I can say that the village that brought Naruto down is about to get rocked!**_

 ** _Me: you guys are awesome, don't forget to review, and hope you enjoyed this chapter, goodnight!_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Me: Be prepared my peeps, for some fluff and stuff...or stuff and fluff...whatever...JUST READ THE DAMNED CHAPTER!**_

 _ **Kurama: I had to come all the way over her from Seeing Red to make sure he's not drinking too much caffeine...too late for that. Sorry, folks.**_

 _ **Me: There's no such thing as too much caffeine!**_

 _ **3: Who You Really Are**_

* * *

"So you haven't been to see him, yet?" Ino asked as she and Sakura made their way through the hospital, "I would've thought that was what you'd do first thing?"

Sakura bit her lip, "I know, but you didn't see them when Kakashi-sensei brought them back," she said, sighing, "Both of them looked so horrible, and neither one of them was conscious."

"Yeah, but Sasuke-kun is- "

Sakura stopped her with a sad look, "You don't get it, Ino-bunta, Sasuke and Naruto fought," she said, trying to drive her point home, "I know we both say that no one could hope to beat him, but looking at those two when they came back...they were both _half-dead._ "

Ino looked more than a little shocked, "But...Gods, Sakura, you can't be serious! I've seen them, and they're both strong, but they wouldn't go that far!"

"They did," Sakura sighed, "And it wasn't the first time. Back after the attack on the village, they fought on top of the hospital, and if it wasn't for Sensei, they would have killed each other right there and then."

Ino sighed and looked ahead of them as they neared Naruto's room, "Okay, I get it...how bad off was - "

A bed pan flew out the door as the blond in question came tumbling out of the room, "Ya missed again, Tayuya!" He laughed as barreled down the hall, followed by a young woman in a wheel chair, brandishing an IV stand.

"Get your ass back here, ya dip shit!" She roared, wheeling after him.

"Naruto, what the hell - ?!"

"Hey, Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, bye!" Naruto blew passed them like a whirlwind, totally fine for the most part.

"When I get my hands on you," the girl shouted, wheeling by just as fast, "I'll shove this so far up your ass they'll have to hook the IV bag up through your fuckin' nose!"

"You gotta catch me first!" Naruto laughed.

"Come back here!"

Ino and Sakura looked after the pair as they rounded the corner, Tayuya going up on two wheels as she sped after him. "What...the hell was that about?" Ino asked of her friend.

"I don't know," Sakura said, "But whoever that girl was...I _really_ don't wanna get on her bad side."

Ino nodded, and hefted the bouquet of flowers she held, "Should we just leave these in his room?"

"I guess," she said, "I don't think he'll be back for a while, though."

Ino nodded, "Naruto makes the weirdest friends."

Sakura giggled, "What does that say about us?"

"Well," Ino said, tapping her chin, "Weird can be _hot_ , right?"

"True," Sakura smiled, and went into Naruto's room, placing the flowers in the vase beside the window. Ino did the same, and headed down the hall, "Off to see Choji?"

"Yeah," she smiled, "I've been worried about him ever since they came back a few days ago." With that, she strode down the hall toward their friend's room, leaving Sakura behind.

Sakura gave her a small wave as she went her way, and turned to leave...

"Sakura."

The rosette froze in place as she turned to face him. Like Naruto, he was covered in bandages, his arms and legs completely concealed, his face slightly covered. "Sasuke..."

Sasuke did not meet her gaze. It was apparent why. Their last encounter had been anything but pleasant. The memories of that night flashed through the girl's mind like lightning. "You look...horrible..." she said, mentally kicking herself for such a comment. But to her surprise, Sasuke actually chuckled out a laugh.

"I feel horrible," he said, smirking.

"Are you here to see Naruto-kun?" Sakura asked, pointing down the hall, "If so, you just missed him."

Sasuke looked over his shoulder for a moment, and sighed, "I did come to see him, but...would you...take a walk with me?"

For a moment, Sakura considered refusing. The last time she had tried or said anything to the Uchiha, it hadn't ended well for her, or anyone for that matter. But the way he was looking was...downright out of character. Normally, the Sasuke Uchiha she knew was stoic, and...cold. This Sasuke was...beaten was the only thing that she could think of to describe it. "Uh..sure, but are you okay to move around?"

Sasuke nodded, "I have a detail of Anbu tailing me, so I'll have more than enough support if I need medical attention." He said, looking at her, "And you'll be safe from me as well."

Sakura shook her head, "I wasn't worried about that."

Sasuke sighed, and made room for her to pass, "Are you sure about that?" He asked her, "After all the trouble I caused, I figured you'd be more worried about the De- er, Naruto more than me."

Sakura shook her head, "He seemed fine just now, but...I don't know what happened between you two, but can you tell me that it's done with, now?"

Sasuke looked at her sadly, "Yeah, it's all over...he beat me completely, and finally knocked some sense into me...so...about that walk?"

Sakura smiled, and looped her arm through his, "I'd love to."

=x=

"Come back and let me fuckin' hit you!" Tayuya roared as she and Naruto practically flew through the streets of Konoha, leaving dust trails in their wake.

Naruto laughed, keeping just ahead of her enough to keep her chasing him, "Wow, you're tenacious, you know that, -tebayo!"

"You want tenacious, I'll show ya tenacious!" Tayuya yelled, throwing the IV stand at him, "Get back here!"

Naruto ducked under the thrown stand and grinned, "Nyahaha, you missed again!"

"This isn't kunai practice!" Tayuya snapped, "Now stop running!"

"Stop chasing me first!" Naruto laughed.

Tayuya was only too glad to oblige as chasing the blond through and out of the hospital had tired her out, badly. The only problem was that she had forgotten about the piece of metal she'd thrown had landed in the street ahead of her, too late for her to stop in time. " _Oh shit_!" The rod tangled in the wheel chair, and sent the girl flying. Naruto saw this and bolted back as the girl threatened to hit the ground.

Tayuya closed her eyes, ready for pain, but felt herself being caught by a pair of strong arms. She opened her eyes and found herself staring straight into the Naruto's blue orbs. "You okay?"

"Uh..." the girl felt her stomach flutter, "Yeah...fine...couldn't be better."

Naruto nodded, and fixed her wheel chair, sitting her back into it properly. And then got smacked for it. "Hey, what the hell was that for!?"

Tayuya smirked at him, satisfied, "For being an ass to an injured girl, schmuck!"

"Hey, I saved you from falling!" Naruto pointed out.

"You're the fucking reason I was falling in the first place, dumb ass!" Tayuya retorted, taking another swing at him which Naruto dodged. "Hey, hold still! I still wanna hit you!"

"Not happening!" Naruto snapped, crossing his arms in a negative gesture. "I get smacked around enough by my teammates, and my jerk sensei, I'll be damned if I let a girl with broken legs do it to me!"

Tayuya had a very snappy comeback planned, but...her stomach growled instead. She blushed as red as her hair as Naruto grinned at her, "Hungry, huh?" He asked, gaining a slow, embarrassed nod from her. "Alright, how about I take you for some real food, then? That hospital food is worse than field rations, at least they taste good."

"Where you gonna take me?" Tayuya asked, "And won't the doctors get pissed about us being gone?"

Naruto shrugged, stepping behind her chair, and began pushing, "You kidding? I've broken outta that place so many times it stopped being funny." He said, smirking, "And there's a great ramen stand around the corner that makes the best ramen you'll ever have!"

"Ramen?" Tayuya gave him a questioning look, "You know you're supposed to take girls to fancier places than a ramen stand for meals, right?"

Again, he shrugged, "It's one of two places that let me eat there, and the barbecue place is clear across the village." He said, smirking, "Besides, the ramen is really good."

Tayuya sighed, too hungry to put up a good argument when he was offering to pay for a meal.

"Hey there, brat!" A boisterous voice called out. Naruto turned and grinned.

"Hey, Pervy Sage!" Naruto called out in greeting, making Tayuya snort at his name.

"Dammit, brat, how many times have I told you not to call me that?!" Jiraiya roared at his apprentice, "What will the ladies think of me then?!"

As Tayuya turned around in her chair to look at the person who had arrived, Naruto just laughed, "That you're nothing but a little pervert!"

The man known as Pervy Sage was a big man at an even six foot, and built strong, with long, wild spiky hair tied back into a tail, the word oil etched into his headband. He clutched at his heart as if wounded, "Aw, now that hurts, Naruto, how many times have I told you this?" He asked dramatically before striking an odd Kabuki pose, "I am no mere pervert," he said, grinning, "I...AM A SUPER PERVERT! Haha!"

Naruto and Tayuya both deadpanned at him, "And this, ladies and gentlemen, is my second sensei, Legendary Perverted Toad Sage, Jiraiya." He said, giving a mock applause. "How lucky am I..."

 _This is Jiraiya_? Tayuya thought _, I'm starting to see a pattern with these three ninja. They're all batshit insane_!

"Mommy, that old man is funny."

"Hush, dear, we just ignore people like that, remember?"

"Yes, Mommy."

Naruto felt his eyebrow twitching at his sensei's antics, "Really, could you get anymore humiliating?" Naruto asked, rubbing his forehead. "Anyway, what are you doing here, Pervy Sage, I thought you were out of the village again?"

Jiraiya placed his hands on his hips, "Well, I couldn't very well stay away when I heard about all this chaos you and that teammate of yours caused, now could I?" He asked, smirking, "And I have to say, you two really put each other through the ringer, I hear. Got a new Doujutsu, right?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah...Granny said you could...tell me about my dad?" He looked up at the man solemnly.

Jiraiya returned the look, and sighed, "Honestly, Naruto, I wanted to tell you the first time we met...but, Sarutobi-sensei forbade me to do so until he thought you were ready to know." He said, ushering them down the streets to Ichiraku's Ramen, "If the village itself knew about it, you'd be seen as near royalty, but if people outside the village knew that your father sired you, then there would be people coming after you more and more because they hated or feared him."

Tayuya looked back over her shoulder at him, "Not that I need to know, or anything, but was the guy really that powerful of a shinobi?"

Jiraiya nodded, and pointed up, "Fourth from the left, and you'll see him."

Naruto whipped around, following his finger...toward the Hokage monument. "Fourth from..." his eyes landed on the man he had looked up to the most for the longest time; the Fourth Hokage. "You...you're _joking_!" He looked back at the man, "You've got to be joking!? _He_ was my _dad_!?"

Jiraiya nodded, "He was, and he was my finest student, as you well know,"Jiraiya said, sighing, "I understand if you don't believe me, but know that you are Minato Namikaze's son."

Naruto turned a snarl on the man, his eyes turning blood red, "Then tell me something," he growled, his voice suddenly booming, "Why, in all of creation, did he seal that damned Nine-Tails inside of me?!" He growled again, drawing the attention of the passing crowds, all of whom knew the boy for what he held, but shrunk back in fear as they saw his blood-red eyes gleaming, and heard the sound of his thunderous voice.

Jiraiya sighed, and placed his hand on the boy's head, dispelling the out of control Genjutsu that was being cast. "You really need to learn how to control those eyes of your, Kid." He said as Naruto's eyes returned to normal, "Seriously, Naruto, do you know just how loud your voice was becoming because of that Genjutsu?"

Naruto looked at him in confusion, "But I suck at Genjustu?"

Tayuya reached back and smacked him on the shoulder, "Not anymore, Shithead," she told him when he turned, "Remember, those new eyes of yours cast a Genjutsu that's almost as powerful as the Sharingan that your pansy-ass Uchiha pal has." She stuck a finger in her ear, "I think the whole village might have heard you talking if the ringing in my ears is anything to go on."

"She's right," Jiraiya said, sighing, "Not that I mind the village finding out who you are, honestly, these fools need a wake up call." He said, and started down the street, "Come on, we'll talk more over a few dozen bowls of ramen...sound good?"

"I'm all for it," Tayuya crossed her arms, "After a few days of that tasteless gunk they call food, a bowl of ramen or two sounds like a fucking feast!"

Jiraiya chuckled as he lead the way, the two younger shinobi trailing behind him slowly, since Naruto was still pushing Tayuya's wheel chair. Tayuya looked up at him for a moment and saw his eyes downcast. "Hey...you...you gonna be okay, Shithead?"

Naruto shrugged, "Not sure...I guess it's just too much for me to take in all at once." He sighed, looking up at the monument, "Lord Fourth had always been my idol as a shinobi...I mean whenever I heard about what he did in the war, and how he gave his life to defeat the Nine-Tails, I always thought that if I wanted anyone to be my father...it'd be him. He was my hero...and now I find out that he's..."

"Your dad," Tayuya sighed, "Yeah, guess I could understand that alright. I mean, I never knew my parents, so I always thought about what they'd be like when I was little."

"Did they want me?" Naruto supplied.

"Did they love me?" Tayuya short back, "Or would they even care about what happened to me?"

Naruto nodded, sighing a little as he did, "I've wondered that everyday of my life since I found out I even had parents." He said as they came up on the ramen stand, "But I still don't understand why he would do something like this to his own son?"

Jiraiya heard him and sighed, gesturing for them to go inside. Naruto helped Tayuya out of her chair and onto a stool, "Old man Ichiraku!" Naruto called out, smiling as the man came out of the back, "Five bowls of pork miso ramen with all the fixings, please!"

"Shark fin for me," Jiraiya smiled, "Two super-sized bowls."

The old man smiled and got to work, "Comin' right up, boys, and what will the little lady be having?"

"Uh..." Tayuya looked at the pair, "You're really gonna eat that much?"

Naruto nodded, "You kiddin'? This is just the start!"

"Order anything you want," Jiraiya smiled at her, "It's all on me, and I doubt even Naruto could eat enough to break my bank."

"That a challenge, Pervy Sage?" Naruto grinned, "I still hold the record of thirty bowls in one sitting!"

Jiraiya grinned at him, "I was wondering who broke my old record," he laughed, "I should've known. Your mother had a love a ramen, just like you did," he said, startling the ramen chef, "It's alright, it's high time he knows." He turned his attention back to the boy while Tayuya made her order, "Your parents came here a lot after they married."

"Really?" Naruto asked.

"Sure did," Jiraiya chuckled, "Especially after she became pregnant with you," he reached inside his coat, and pulled out a picture, showing it to the blond, "That's them there, and me, too. Even after Minato became a Jonin, we were all as close as family." Naruto took the photo, and had to bite his lip. He'd never seen anything like a family picture, but the sight of the red-haired woman, obviously pregnant, sitting in between the white-haired sage, and the blond man, all of whom were smiling hugely, made a lump grow in his throat.

"How come you never showed up when - "

"I didn't know," Jiraiya said, sighing, "Sarutobi-sensei, bless the man, thought it best that I didn't know about you until everything had calmed down after the Nine-Tails attacked, and when I found out, you can bet I rushed back here double quick...it was just thirteen years too late to be anything but a mentor to you." He said, looking down at the boy, "Don't blame the old man for this, because I'm sure he had his reasons. I'm here now, and that's what's really important."

Their orders arrived, and Naruto began eating slower than he usually did, while Tayuya slurped away at hers. "So, how close were you to my parents...and my mom, what was her name?"

Jiraiya sighed and set his chopsticks down, "That's a loaded question...well, your mother was Kushina Uzumaki, the last full-blooded Uzumaki I ever knew, and Naruto, I have to tell you that you look almost identical to your dad, but everything else is your mother!" He laughed at the boy's expression as he blushed, "As for how close we were..." the man grew quiet, and looked down at his meal, then at his apprentice, "It was practically me that named you...they made me your godfather."

Naruto looked up at him, his eyes widening, "You mean..."

"We're family, Naruto," Jiraiya confirmed, "Even while training you to use Rasengan, I thought of you as my own, just like Minato. Had i known you were alive all this time, nothing would've stopped me from taking you away from all of this pain...but I didn't, and nothing I can do will ever make up for it."

"You can stick around," Naruto said, his eyes brimming, "I mean, there's other Uzumaki around, sure, but who's gonna tell me more about my mom and dad?"

As the pair spoke, Tayuya could only listen, and feel like she shouldn't even be there. Really, it was none of her business if the blond moron had more family, or if his old man was a famous war hero...

...she just...wanted to know...what happiness felt like.

=x=

"The leaves are starting to change color," Sakura noted as she and Sasuke strolled around the park, "Winter's not to far off, is it?"

Sasuke shook his head, "No, it's not...hey, what do you think about taking Naruto around the Rinne Festival when it rolls around?" He asked, surprising her with his question. He scratched the back of his head, "I kinda said you and I would go with him, and maybe drag Kakashi with us, just so he'd have someone to go with...it's fine if you don't - "

"That sounds nice," Sakura smiled at him, nodding, "I think I'd like that. After all, you two have been through so much together." She said, recalling a few of their missions. "Remember our first time catching Tora?"

Sasuke shivered, "Actually, I try not to."

Sakura giggled, "Well, I remember it perfectly." She said proudly, strolling over to a bench, "You two were so gung-ho about catching that silly cat that you got in each other's way so much that Kakashi had to step in and catch him instead. Then he threw the cat on both of you!" She laughed as Sasuke took a seat beside her, scowling at the memory.

"I had scratches all over me," he grumbled, "Stupid Kakashi..."

Sakura shook her head, smiling still, "You guys were always so far ahead of me in strength...I always felt like I was holding you back until we went to Wave, and I got the tree walking exercise down so fast." She leaned back as a breeze kicked up, enjoying it for the moment.

Sasuke sighed and leaned back as well, "You're stronger than you give yourself credit for."

"Not strong enough to make you stay," she said, remembering the night of his departure, "I was such a weakling, I still am, compared to you and Naruto."

"You're good for other things," Sasuke said.

"Like what?" Sakura asked with a slant-eyed glance.

"Uh..."

"Go on."

Sasuke gulped and said, "Well, you're really good at explaining things, even to me and Naruto, and you know how we are."

Sakura eyed him for a moment before letting it go, "I guess you're right about that. If I weren't around, you two would be helpless."

Sasuke smirked at her, "I wouldn't go that far."

The girl giggled, "You know, this is the first time we've talked like this," she said, smiling at him, "I always thought that you found me annoying, but here we are."

Sasuke shrugged, "Things change," he said simply, "And I...I wanted to apologize...for hitting you that night..." he said, blushing as the girl blinked at him in surprise, "You were just trying to protect me, and I...I had no right to do that to you...I'm so sorry, Sakura... _chan_." He almost swallowed his tongue as the affectionate came out, sounding like he was gagging.

Sakura blushed lightly for a moment, then broke out laughing, making Sasuke growled. "Sasuke-kun, you don't have to force yourself to be nice, you know?" She laughed, "Just be yourself, that's always worked before."

Sasuke shook his head, and looked at her sadly, "Being myself nearly got three people killed, Sakura...and one of them was my best friend, and closest person I had to a brother left in this world other than Itachi...I don't want to be that anymore."

"Who said you have to be?" Sakura asked, reaching out to take his hand in hers, "Sasuke-kun, you need to know now, that you don't have to take everything on yourself. You want to take down your brother for what he did your family, I get that, but you don't have to do it alone. Naruto and I will be there for you, whether or not it's chasing after your brother." Sakura smiled as he gripped her hand in return, "Ask us for anything, and we'll do our best to help you do it...but all of us," she said, rising, and pulling him with her, "from this point on, need to get stronger. That's why I'm going to ask Tsunade-sama to take me on as her apprentice."

"You are?" Sasuke asked, surprised, "But you hate training?"

Sakura shook her head, "Doesn't matter. I'm tired of being useless to you and Naruto, so I'm going to do my best for both of you, as your friend and teammate, and for myself...I'm tired of being left behind, too."

Sasuke was more than a little stunned, but smiled nonetheless, "Of all the people to actually say they're weak, it's both of my teammates...you're both stronger than I am...you've got wills made of steel, where mine is shattered as easily as glass..."

"Then you just have to get stronger, too, right?" Sakura chirped, giving him a tug, "Come on, let's go see if we can find Naruto?"

Sasuke nodded. It was high time he and Naruto settled their differences, even if it meant getting punched again.

* * *

 _ **And done! Next time, Naruto and Kurama come face to face again!**_

 _ **Don't forget to review!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**4: Team 7 Remade?**_

* * *

Tsunade's brow twitched violently as she took in the empty room of the hospital that had housed the injured Sound Kunoichi, and her favorite blond Genin. The beds were bare and unmade, meaning that the pair had been gone only a few hours. "Those...little... _BRATS!_ " She snapped, crushing the clipboard in her hands.

"Tsunade-hime," an old woman said, coming down the hall toward the woman, "I heard that you had spoken to Sasuke Uchiha earlier today."

Tsunade sighed as Koharu Utatane came toward her, and a groan escaped her throat. "Yes, I had a word with him this morning." She said, keeping the irritation out of her voice. "Was there something you needed, Councilwoman Utatane?"

"I was made aware of his suspension from the shinobi corps," the elder woman said, "Was that wise? The boy may be unstable, but he is still an Uchiha, and the last loyal one to the village."

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Tsunade sighed in irritation, "I told him that if he was deemed unfit for the life of a shinobi by Inoichi, then his career as a shinobi of this village was over," she said without hesitation, "Honestly, it took all I had not to throw the brat in prison for what he's done. Not only did he desert, but he nearly killed one of my most promising Genin, and led two others to be severely injured in their pursuit of him."

Koharu nodded, "Ah, the young Akimichi heir, and the promising Branch member of the Hyuuga clan," she said, sighing, "And I take it the third you speak of is the young Jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Naruto?"

Tsuande glared at her, "Don't refer to him by that title." She growled, "He is a proud shinobi of this village, and he is as loyal as we could ever hope, even after all of the abuse you and the others have put him through."

"I've done nothing to the boy," Koharu snapped.

"And you've done nothing for him either," the blonde said, glaring at her angrily, "Nothing could make me more ashamed than what that boy has had to go through his entire life even after he became a shinobi." She turned down the hall and began walking, "He's going to be one of our best soldiers when he matures...and he's earned my respect twice over because of his sheer tenacity and strength of will."

"An asset such as him should be nurtured and protected," Koharu said, trying to placate the woman, "But if we'd showed any favoritism toward him, the civilians would have never let us alone, and the boy would have been through even more trials than he already has."

"Or he would have at least grown up without having to live on the streets until Sensei found him and put him in that atrocious apartment." Tsunade sneered over her shoulder at the woman, turning about, "Let me make one thing perfectly clear," she said, her hands on her hips, "As you elected me Hokage, what I do with my shinobi is up to me, and me alone, and while I will respect you and Homura as my advisers, do not attempt to sway me when it comes to Naruto...he _is_ my one remaining family member that I know of inside the Uzumaki clan."

Koharu sighed, "While I understand that, the boy is still the village's best chance should one of the other villages decide to attack," she said, "Such as the attack from Suna and Oto only a few weeks ago. If it weren't for Sasuke and Naruto's efforts, the Ichibi's container - "

"His _name_ is _Gaara_ ," Tsunade snapped, bowing up to the woman, "And if you hadn't heard, he is the next Kazekage in all but title." She said, looking her in the eyes, "We will be dealing with him in terms of political alliances, and he and Naruto are on very good terms, given that his life was saved from the Ichibi by our supposed weapon...don't ever underestimate Naruto...you'll end up losing every time."

"Tsunade-shishou," Shizune called as she neared the two from the end of the hall, "I have the results from the blood tests on Tayuya-san that you wanted."

Tsunade sighed, "Finally, some good news."

Koharu looked at the younger woman, "Were you testing her for some sort of Bloodline?"

"Hardly," the blond sighed as Shizune reached the with the paperwork, "Naruto brought up a fairly good point with her yesterday, and I wanted to see if he was right," she said, and started thumbing through the files, "See, Naruto now knows of his Uzumaki heritage, and, if Jiraiya finds him, he'll soon know about his father as well, but he pointed out that Tayuya...has..." Tsunade began to pale as she found and read the page she had been looking for, and looked at her apprentice, "Shizune, does anyone else know what's on this?"

"No," Shizune shook her head, "I did the blood work myself, and I can assure you I _triple_ checked it before I brought it to you!"

Tsunade growled, " _This_ explains a few things, such as the feel of her chakra when I was around her," she said, "And why she was so talented as a Genjutsu user."

Koharu looked between the two women curiously, "Whatever is the matter, Tsunade-hime? You're acting like you've seen a ghost?"

Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing, "I have...that girl is indeed part Uzumaki," she said, making the elder smile, "But...she's also part _Uchiha_."

Koharu squawked, "How is that possible?! There were no outside relations documented by the clan!"

Tsunade looked at the woman tiredly, "That would be true if the subject intended to sire a child, or if the mother was willing." Tsunade said, sighing, "By the gods, this is going to be a mess!"

"How much Uchiha blood does she have?" Koharu asked, "If Danzo catches wind of this, he'll - "

Tsunade glared at the woman, "I'm not letting that old buzzard touch a single hair on her head!" She snapped, sighing, "But you're right, Danzo can't know about her lineage...she's an Uzumaki/Uchiha half-blood, just like Naruto is a half-blood between his father's clan and his mother's."

Shizune nodded, "And it would seem that she's taken after the Uzumaki clan more than the Uchiha, thank goodness," she said, "if it had been the other way around, she may have developed a Sharingan at this point."

"I agree," Koharu sighed, "If another Sharingan surfaced, and a female no less, it would cause an uproar not only to marry her off, but to keep her from being violated!"

"Right," Tsunade said, placing her hands on both of their shoulders, "I'm dubbing this an SSS-rank secret, no one outside the three of us will know, not even Tayuya unless she does, somehow, awaken a Sharingan. Is that clear?"

"My lips are sealed," Koharu nodded, "Danzo will not get his hands on this poor girl."

Shizune nodded, "You know I won't say anything...but the girl's father..."

Tsunade smiled, "That's probably the only good thing about this whole...the poor man left behind quite a daughter."

=x=

Tayuya sneezed violently, nearly spilling the bowl of ramen she had started to enjoy, "Damn, this village sure as hell plays with your sinuses!" She complained before going back to her fifth bowl of shrimp ramen.

Jiraiya looked at the girls for a moment, "I'd imagine that Orochimaru keeps all forms of pollen, and other allergies out of the compound he kept you at, right?"

Tayuya nodded, her mouth full. Abrasive she may have been, but she at least had table manners. After swallowing down another mouthful, she said, "Aside from the scent of blood and medications, the place was kept squeaky clean."

"Yes, Orochimaru wouldn't want any of his subjects getting sick," Jiraiya growled, "And I suppose he placed one of those marks on you?"

Tayuya nodded, and moved her hair out of the way, showing off the nape of her neck, "Mine was the Curse of Hell," she said, letting her hair fall back into place, "The Uchiha's was the Curse of Heaven." She went on, "His is more powerful than most of the one's he put on my old teammates. That Sasuke brat was something special to him, just like Kimimaro was. The only reason he didn't take him was because the guy had some kind of deadly illness that would've passed right on to the bastard the minute he took him over."

Naruto shivered, "Why the hell would anyone let him do that to them?"

Tayuya shrugged, "Hell if I know," she said, "The mark gives you one hell of a power boost, even if you don't use it at all, but it also makes you a lot more aggressive in the first few months of getting it."

"So you just got yours, right?" Naruto grinned.

"The fuck does that mean, Shithead?!" Tayuya sneered.

"Now, now," Jiraiya smiled as a fight started brewing, "Let's not fight, besides, Naruto, she's going to help us find Orochimaru once everything settles down, remember?"

Naruto just grinned, and placed his arms behind his head, "Aw, I'm just fooling with her."

Tayuya huffed and finished off her ramen, "Look, Shithead, I'm hoping that Tsunade-sama finds out I'm really part of your clan and all, but don't get too chumy with me, or you'll end up in your own personal, Genjutsu induced hell."

"Really?" Naruto deadpanned, "I'm a shinobi, and I have an enormous, angry ball of chakra inside me that likes my misery...how else can you make my life any worse?"

"Does getting rear-ended by Orochimaru tell you anything about my skills as a Genjutsu mistress?"

Jiraiya shivered, "Oh, gods, I just imagined that, and now it's stuck in my head!" He then started banging his head on the counter, "EVIL. _THOUGHTS_. _**BEGONE**_!"

Naruto grimaced while Tayuya smirked, "Now see what you've done?" Naruto jerked his thumb over at the man, "He's gonna be like that the rest of the day!"

Tayuya just kept smirking as the Sannin banged his head into the wooden counter while Teuchi tried to stop him for the sake of his ramen stand. "You kidding? This is what I call premo entertainment!"

"No, what's entertaining is seeing his ass get beaten whenever he gets caught peeping in the women's hot spring," Naruto grinned, remembering quite a few incidents the old Sage had gotten himself into because he couldn't contain himself, and even more that Naruto himself had caused during some of their stints outside the village that he threatened to let slip to Tsunade in order to get his way with his sensei sometimes. Pure gold in his opinion.

As Tayuya snickered at that, something caught her attention. A pair of somethings, actually. "Uh, Shithead?" She said, getting Naruto's attention, "You and that pal of yours were on good terms, right?"

"Well, he tried to help me if that's anything to go on," Naruto said, placing another empty bowl in his pile, "Why?" He asked, and noticed Tayuya pointing over his left shoulder. He turned around, and sure enough, said 'pal' was slowly making his way toward them while lagging behind a cheerful Sakura. Just like Naruto, the older boy was covered in bandages.

Though, Naruto did notice that he seemed to hang back more than he usually did.

As usual, Sakura was bubbly and cheerful when she came up to him, "Hey, Naruto-kun, still alive, huh?"

Naruto grinned at her, "Hell, yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

Sakura giggled and pointed toward Tayuya, who was glaring at the girl, "Because the last time I saw you this girl was zooming after you about to murder you...or at least hurt you a lot more than you were this morning."

Naruto looked at her in confusion, "Hurt me?" He asked, "I'm totally fine, Sakura-chan!" He grinned, flexing his arms proudly, only to receive a smack on the head from Tayuya, "Ow, hey, what the hell, Tayuya-chan!"

"First of all, _don't_ fucking call me that!" Tayuya snapped, poking him in the forehead, "Second, the only reason you ain't fucked up is because you paid for my meal," she jerked her thumb at the smallest stack of ramen bowls, "And third, you're covered in bandages, so of course she's gonna think you're still fucked up!"

Sakura's brows nearly shot off the top of her head at the girl's crass language as Sasuke finally stood behind her, and looked surprised, "Aren't you...one of the Sound Four?" Sasuke asked. "What are you doing here?"

Tayuya looked at the boy and sneered, "Wouldn't you like to know, Emo-boy?"

Sasuke's eye twitched. Naruto snickered, "She's got ya there, Sasuke!"

Sasuke growled, "And here I was worried about you, Dead Last," he grunted, "You know you died on us for a little while, right?"

Naruto felt himself deflate at that, "Yeah...my new eyes showed me what happened while I was out..." he looked at his teammate, "Thanks, Teme."

Sasuke grunted for moment before extending his hand, "I'm sorry, Naruto."

Naruto looked at the Uchiha and sighed, "Sasuke," he slapped his hand away, "I already told you, we're good."

"How can you say that so easily?" Sasuke asked in wonder, pointing, "Because of me, you had two holes put in your chest, and pretty much died on me and Kakashi...so why?"

Tayuya crossed her arms, "I gotta agree with the Emo-brat," Sasuke scowled at her, "If it were me, I'd be kickin' his ass six ways to Sunday."

Naruto shrugged, "Turning my back on him now would be the same as abandoning him." Naruto explained, looking at the girl, "And the first day we became a team, Kakashi made it clear that people who break rules are scrum - "

"Trash is more like it," Tayuya put in.

"But people that leave their own teammates behind are worse than scum," Naruto went on, and jerked his thumb at Sasuke, "We're teammates, so there's no way I'd turn my back on him, unless he hurt one of my precious people, so even if we hurt each other pretty bad, I'd always help him when I know he needed it."

Sakura looked between her two teammates and sighed with relief, "I'm glad you two can put all of this behind you." She said, smiling, before looking over at her blond teammate, "What did you mean when you said 'my new eyes'?"

"He's a Kerryugan carrier," Jiraiya said, a large lump forming on his head, "It's an extremely rare Doujutsu, which can only be achieved through coming dangerously close to death, which Naruto did after Sasuke tried to bring him back to the village." He said, "It's essentially a Genjutsu based Doujutsu that creates an illusion so powerful that it rivals that of the Sharingan, or it could be even more powerful considering Naruto was able to augment his voice louder than if he was channeling chakra into his vocal cords."

"How is that a Genjutsu?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head.

Tayuya scoffed, "You really don't know much about Genjutsu, do ya, Shithead?" She smirked when the blond stuck his tongue out at her, "Genjustu plays with more than your eyesight, dumb ass, it goes for all of your sense, including taste if you're as good as I am." She sound so cocky that even Sasuke had to scowl at that, being a Genjutsu user himself. "My specialty was sound based Genjutsu I cast with my flute when I still had the thing, I could even make people suffocate by making them think they were buried or something, or have heart attacks if I cast something frightening enough, or traumatizing enough."

Naruto nodded, somewhat understanding, "Okay, so if I used my Doujutsu, I could..."

"Right now, you wouldn't be able to do much without practice," Jiraiya said, tapping the side of his head, "Most jutsu is limited by only what the user is capable of in his mind. If he or she can picture a way to do it, then it's possible, but with Genjutsu, even the impossible is possible because it all happens right inside the user and target's minds."

"Okay," Naruto nodded, "I think I get it, but how did I show Granny and Tayuya my battle with Sasuke?"

"You did what?" Sasuke grunted.

Tayuya shrugged, "Doujutsu, when activated for the first time, are a little wild when not in the heat of battle," she explained, drawing looks of confusion from the other Genin, "Okay, fucktards, I'll put it a different way," she said, "Think of the Sharingan like a parasite," she said, holding up on of her hands, "Now most parasites don't really care about the host they feed off of, but some actually provide aid to their host to keep it alive," she said, holding up her other hand, "Now the Sharingan is mostly activated by high levels of adrenaline combined with an upped heart rate, signifying that the host body is in danger, prompting the Doujutsu to activate in order to keep the host alive from whatever threat there is." She said, clasping her hands together.

"Sort of like a symbiotic relationship," Sakura nodded, "I get that. But what about Naruto's?"

"Well, like I was saying, most Doujutsu come alive during battle, but the Kerryugan is something that only comes alive when the host is close to death, but the rub is that the awakening process does nothing to keep the host alive," She explained, "If someone was close enough and managed to keep him from dying, then the Doujutsu would activate later in a wild manner, such as when Shithead here was thinking about his battle with Emo-brat - "

"Oi!/Shut up!" Naruto and Sasuke growled respectively.

"Anyway," Tayuya glared at the pair, "When he was thinking about it, his chakra unconsciously flowed into his eyes, activating his eyes' special abilities, which allowed him to project the memories he was filtering through to me and Tsunade-sama."

Naruto growled, "How come you give her respect, but diss me?"

Tayuya gave him a pointed looked right along with Sakura. "Really, Shithead?"

"She's got a point, Naruto-kun," Sakura sighed, crossing her arms, "Tsunade-sama is one of the most powerful shinobi in the world, as well as the strongest kunoichi in the entire history of the shinobi world, she's the world's best medical ninja, _and_ she's the Fifth Hokage." She said, taking off the woman's achievements, "What more does she need to earn your respect?"

"Hey, when I call her 'Granny', it's said with love and affection," the blond grinned, "Besides that, she's nowhere near as young as she - " _ **BONG**_ "GAH!"

"What was that you were about to say, you little rat?!" Tsunade growled angrily as she stood over the blond with a smoking fist raised threateningly. "Because I'm sure my ears were burning with a load of bull shit that was being sent my way from a certain blond's mouth?"

Naruto sweated visibly as he nursed the lump on his head, "Oh, uh, I was just listening to Sakura-chan saying how incredibly awesome you are!" Naruto grinned, hoping to avoid another smack.

"Tch, kiss ass," Tayuya smirked.

Naruto growled at her, "Pot, meet my dear friend, Kettle," he grumbled, gesturing to Tayuya.

"You got somethin' to say, Dumb ass?!" Tayuya snapped, raring for a fight, "Even if my legs are banged up, I can kick you skinny ass from here to Suna and back!"

"I'd like to see you try, Red!" Naruto growled, ready for a brawl. That is before Tsunade bonked both of them on the head. "Ouch!"

"What the hell?!" Tayuya yelped, "He started it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

 **Bonk/Bang**

"Ouch!" Both youngsters yelped as she smacked them again.

"That's enough out of both of you!" Tsunade roared, turning her attention to Tayuya, "And I did warn you not to bait him!"

"But I - "

"Stuff it!" Tsunade snapped, making both of them jump, Tayuya actually clearing off of her stool and hopping into Naruto's arms in fear. "Now, you two have some explaining to do. Why weren't you in your room this morning?!"

"Uh..."

"Well..." Both teens looked at each other.

"I'm waiting." Tsunade growled.

Jiraiya sighed and placed his hand on her shoulder, "You can blame me for that, Hime. I took them out for some ramen since I wanted to talk to Naruto, and Tayuya wanted to come along."

Tsunade glared at the man, "They're both injured, you old goat!" She snapped, "Tayuya can't even walk! And you took them out of the hospital for that!?"

"Naruto needed to know about his father," Jiraiya said, unrepentant, crossing his arms, "And you just missed him and Sasuke reconciling. You wanna get mad at me, then fine, but I'm not sorry for any of this."

Tsunade glowered at the man for a moment before relenting, "Fine, but all three of you are going back to the hospital, pronto!"

"Three?" Jiraiya asked.

"Sasuke needs to meet with Inoichi for a psych evaluation," she said, "If he fails, bye-bye career."

"What!?"

Tsunade nearly sighed as the loudest member of Team 7 let his displeasure out, "Naruto - "

"Don't even start!" Naruto roared angrily, shocking the Hokage, and present company, "You wanna punish the guy, fine, but don't even try breaking up our team!" He said, hopping down and placing Tayuya in her chair, "I didn't go after him so you could take him away from Team 7, I went after him because he's a comrade, and he needed help!"

"Now see here, Uzumaki!" Tsunade growled.

"Uh-uh, not happening!" Naruto snapped, gesturing wildly with his arms, "Take him out of the game, and you take me out, too!" He snatched his head band off and held it out to her, "Go on! Take it!"

"Don't tempt me!" She roared, "do you even know what the penalty is for what he's done?! By laws set forth by my grandfather, he should be dead and buried right now! But here he is, alive and well, thanks to my good graces, and that's not good enough for you?!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Naruto roared, "You wanna go there, fine, let's! You ran away from the village, for who knows how long, and now, after I had to drag your wrinkled ass back here, you wanna start preaching about desertion?!"

"That's not - "

"Don't say it's not fucking fair!" Naruto snapped, glaring up at the woman, both of which, by now, had drawn quite the crowd. "Oh, boo-hoo, I lost my boyfriend, and my little baby brother!" Naruto sneered, imitating a high, girly voice before getting right up in her face, "Sasuke lost his entire clan, and guess what? His own brother did it, and made him watch!" He roared, making Tayuya, Sakura and Sasuke wince, "Face it, Granny, when it comes down to it, how the hell are you two any different?"

"I didn't try to kill anyone, that's how!" Tsunade roared, "And how dare you bring that all up?! You realize that I could have you jailed, right?!"

"Go right ahead," Naruto crossed his arms, "Demons like myself oughtta be locked up, ain't that right?!"

"Naruto, that is not what I mean!" Tsunade gasped, "You know I'd never - " She stopped when she looked over at Jiraiya for support, but the man only shook his head.

"Leave me outta this, Hime," Jiraiya said, "You got yourself into this mess, you deal with it, 'cause I would have done the same for Orochimaru if I could have, but he was already too far gone. Fact of the matter is, the kid's right. Sasuke more than likely would've been a second Orochimaru given enough time, and probably twice as dangerous."

"So I should just let him go?" Tsunade huffed, "Just like that?!"

"No, I'm saying let me get that damned seal off of both Tayuya and Sasuke, then you can evaluate both of them," he said, scratching the back of his head, "Face it, Hime, putting Sasuke's career as a shinobi on ice right now is foolish, considering how many we lost in the invasion, and if you did that, not only would you have the civilians' hate, which is a headache anyway you slice it, but you'd have Danzo breathing down your neck to get the boy to impregnate as many girls as possible to start up the Uchiha clan again."

"Anything but that!" Sasuke shuddered, "I would very much like to be a one woman man!"

"Shut up!" Tsunade snapped at the boy, "This doesn't concern you!"

Sasuke resisted the urge to point out that it really did, but he liked living too much to do that.

"Giving him a psych evaluation right now wouldn't be a good idea anyway," Tayuya put in, leaning on her hands, "Orochimaru's curse marks always mess with your mind a little bit, even if he doesn't intend to use you as a vessel."

"There, now, you see?" Jiraiya said, "Once I get that thing off, I'm sure things will go back to normal, and you can rule this as a simple attempt of kidnapping."

Tsunade growled and crossed her arms, an angry blush on her cheeks, "What is this!? Gang up on the Hokage Day?!" She snapped, "Argh, you're all gonna be the death of me! The only one here that hasn't raised my blood pressure is Sakura, and she's hiding behind Teuchi!"

Sakura popped her head out from behind the man in question, "Ehehe, I thought I'd just stay out of this one?"

"Smart girl," Teuchi smiled.

"But, Hokage-sama?" Sakura said, as she hopped over the counter, "I would like to make a small request?"

Tsunade looked down at her, "What? You want me to let him off the hook, too?"

"No," Sakura said a little too quickly, then blushed, "W-well, that too, but there's something else!"

"Then out with it," Tsunade sighed, "it's bad enough that I just lost an argument with a bunch of kids, and an old - "

"Novelist!" Jiraiya hurriedly put in.

"Right," the blonde's brow twitched, "Now what do you want?"

Sakura gulped, and bowed low, "Please, Tsunade-sama, please make me your apprentice!"

Tsunade actually looked surprised, as did Jiraiya, Naruto and Tayuya for that matter. "And...why should I?" Tsunade asked, "I've read your reports from Academy, and while you placed as the top kunoichi, your field performance report from Kakashi, whenever he turns them in on time, are below average."

Sakura nodded sadly, "That's why I'd like to be your apprentice." She said, "I'm tired of being the useless one on our team. I know I have a resistance to Genjutsu built up because of Kakashi, but if I trained in the medical field like you, I could be of more use to Sasuke and Naruto, and not just be in the way!"

"You do this for them?"

"And myself," she said, "I...I don't want to be weak anymore!"

Sasuke watched the Hokage and his teammate nervously for a moment, thinking that the elder would refuse for a moment, but then he saw he beginning to smile. "Alright, I guess I could use an apprentice...but you realize that the training I'm going to put you through is nothing compared to what Naruto gets from Jiraiya, and I heard that the old perv threw him off of a cliff."

"I..." Sakura looked up at her with slight fear, but steeled herself, "I don't care, do your worst!"

Jiraiya grimaced, "Oooh, wrong choice of words..."

"Good answer," she said, and grabbed the girl by the back of her dress, "Come along, training starts immediately, and boy do I need to blow off some steam!"

Naruto clapped his hands together, "Rest in peace, Sakura-chan."

"She was a really good teammate," Sasuke put in.

"She'd have been a real looker in a few more years," Jiraiya lamented.

Tayuya just grinned, waving, "Sayonara, Pinky!"

"Eh?" Sakura watched as her friends began to wave at her while she was dragged off, " _Eeeeeeh_!?"

"Naruto, Tayuya," Tsunade yelled, "I want you two back at the hospital as soon as you're done eating, else I'll put you through the ringer!"

That got the pair moving. Tayuya wheeled herself around right as Naruto took off like a shuriken. "RACE YA BACK!"

"NO FAIR!" Tayuya roared, "YOU GOTTA HEAD START!"

~Fwing~

Kakashi sighed as he stood in front of the Hokage some time later, "You're really trying to steal my team from me, aren't you, Tsunade-sama?" He asked as he saw the apprenticeship form in front of her. "You know I have a few good reasons not to sign her over to you, right?"

"All of which can be solved with a few days and some red tape," Tsunade smirked, "In only a few hours, I've seen exactly what she can and can't do...she has so much raw potential that it's frightening...and there are a few others I'd like to take in as well, seeing as one Tenten Higurashi is one of last year's finest kunoichi, and the only one to keep herself alive during that year."

"I'm not going to operate a four man cell without another member," Kakashi sighed, "And Sasuke, as you said, is unstable at the moment because of that mark on his neck, which you said can be removed, but will take at least a week or two...so what am I supposed to do?"

Tsunade sighed, "For now? I want you taking up your old Anbu mask again for a while." She said, "Tayuya is an Uzumaki, just like Naruto, what's more, Naruto has a rare Doujutsu that could get some unhealthy attention for him from too many people inside and outside this village. Not only are they both in danger of being kidnapped for their heritage, but Naruto for his eyes as well, and both have the potential to be repeatedly violated by outside forces should they come under attack." She sat back with a sigh, thinking back on the conversation she had had with Shizune and Koharu earlier that morning, "Our inside threats are more subdued because both are of Uzumaki heritage, meaning those that would use them would wish to strengthen that bloodline by having them engage each other instead of hand-selected subjects willing to go through such a thing. And being a Jinchuuriki, Naruto is more than capable of defending himself now that he's a seasoned Genin...and soon-to-be Chunin."

"You're promoting him?" Kakashi asked.

"He's earned it," Tsunade nodded, "The girl, however, I'd like to have evaluated in the field after Jiraiya removes both hers and Sasuke's marks. She's already made a deal with me, and given us valuable information...such as the possible location of another, _full_ -blooded Uzumaki."

At this, the man looked shocked, "Are you serious? I thought - "

"Yes, I know," Tsunade smiled, "It's almost too good to be true, but the girl seems to be telling the truth. Either way, she can and will lead us to more of Orochimaru's bases, and, possibly, Orochimaru himself. Which means you will have to be prepared to fight with him...all of you."

"Are you telling me that Team 7 is to be made into a hunting squad?" Kakashi asked. "I thought that Jiraiya wanted to take Naruto out of the village for training? What happened to that idea?"

"He had to rethink it because of Naruto's Doujutsu," Tsunade sighed, "And the boy is looking more and more like his father each and every day, what's more, he knows about both his parents now, so it's doubly dangerous for him to leave for any extended amount of time baring missions to keep his income flowing."

Kakashi sighed, "Sheltering him like that is a bad idea," he said, "If he finds out that we're trying to keep him within bounds, he'll - "

"I have no intention of doing such a thing," she said, smiling, "The boy's too much like his mother for that. As much as I dislike the idea of him being put in the spot light so soon, he will take any mission I deem him ready to take."

Kakashi nodded, "I see...so Sasuke is to be put on watch until all is said and done, and I'm still down a team member?"

Tsunade glared, "Is that all you can think about?" She asked, "Fine, but you brought this on yourself."

"What do you -?"

"From this point on," she snapped, "Tayuya Uzumaki is to be an extended member of Team 7, even when Sakura is allowed time for missions outside of Konoha. As such, Team 7 is now, officially, by order of the Hokage, a five body cell!"

Kakashi looked at her in horror, "You're putting her on my team? With Naruto?! Are you out of your mind?!"

"Not yet," Tsunade smirked, "But I think you soon will be...they're quite the hand full together."

=x=

As Naruto laid in bed that night, he found himself drifting off to a familiar place as he heard the dripping of water around him, and the sound of something large breathing around him. He opened his eyes and found himself back inside the seal, staring at the iron door where two enormous red eyes were staring down at him.

 **"So,"** Kurama said to the boy, **"What do you think of my gift, Runt?"**

Naruto glared at the Biju, "The only thing you did was save your own hide," he said, "Even if you'd let me die, I know that you'd die with me thanks to the seal."

A deep chuckle shook the water at his feet, **"So you believe that it was pure chance that the Kerryugan awakened? I think not, Runt. You saw for yourself, did you not? I kept that shinigami away from you just long enough that I knew the eyes would change.** **"** He laughed, **"As always, you are nothing without me."**

Naruto growled, "You can't fool me, Kurama," the fox sneered angrily at the use of his name by the boy, "you did this only to save yourself." He jerked his thumb up at his eyes, these eyes were from my dad, not you, and not anyone else!"

 **"Your father was nothing but a fool that failed to save the woman he loved,"** Kurama smirked from behind the bars showing off his teeth, **"Did you know that she was still alive just before he sealed me into you? Uzumaki are known to survive my kind from being taken from them as well as living abnormally long lives. That fool of a Kage let his guard down and turned his back on me just as he prepared to seal me away into you, and Kushina jumped in front of my claws just as would have killed you both!** "

Naruto felt his eyes widen, his vision bordering red, "You...you killed my mother..."

 **"With a smile on my face, Runt, with a smile on my face!"**

Naruto ground his teeth, looking down at his feet, his form shaking. Kurama felt his laughter rumbling through him, and grinned, **"Why such a long face, Runt? If they had not given their lives for you, would that not mean that they did not love you?** " He grinned, " **Poor, poor Naruto, bereft of his loving family, knowing only that they loved him so much that they sealed their murderer inside you! HAHAHAHAHAAA!"**

"Screw you!" Naruto roared, glaring at the fox, his eyes blood-red, "I don't care what it takes, no matter how long I have to live, you are never getting out of here! Even if I die, I'll find away to seal you into something other than another human body!"

 **"Ha! Good luck trying, Runt! Many have tried such a thing, and all have failed miserably!"** Kurama roared, **"Just think, in the next century or so of your life, I will be sealed away into your grandchild! And then they can suffer as you have suffered! Isn't it wonderful? HAHAHAHA!"**

Naruto sat up in bed with a shout, his eyes still glowing red, and covered in sweat. "D-Damn that stupid fox!"

"Hey," Tayuya's voice drifted to him, and he found the girl sitting up in bed, looking at him with a sad look on her face. "You okay, Shithead?"

Taking a deep breath, the blond nodded, "Yeah, the Kyuubi was - "

"I know," Tayuya nodded, pointing at her eyes, "I saw everything after you said it...killed your mom...sorry."

Naruto groaned a laid back in bed, "Dammit, these stupid eyes are more trouble than they're worth!" He groaned, "Sorry...I need to learnt to control them better."

Tayuya sighed, not knowing what to say as the blond covered his face with his arms. Then she huffed and swung her legs over the side of her bed, and shakily rose to her feet. Thanks to an earlier healing session, she was at least able to walk short distances, given she stayed off of her broken leg, allowing her to limp/hop over to him, and crawl into bed with him.

"Wha-?" Naruto started, and yelped when he felt Tayuya's arms going around him, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Shut up, or someone's gonna fucking hear you!" Tayuya hissed, glaring at him with a massive blush across her face, "And don't get any fucking ideas, Shithead, this is a one time deal...after seeing something like that, you...probably need something to take your mind off of it..."

Naruto had to admit that she had certainly succeeded. "But what if someone comes in here and sees us?"

"I'll tell the fuckers I was sleep walking," Tayuya smirked, her eyes closing, "They'll believe that."

He wasn't so sure about that, but it was plain enough to see that she really didn't care one way or the other because she was already drifting off to sleep. It was comforting, however, having the girl sleeping against him as she was. So he sighed and wrapped his arms around her, settling down once more to try and sleep. "Thanks, Tayuya-chan."

* * *

 _ **And done! Not much I can say about this chapter except there was a lot of yelling, and a few bonding moments, but I hope you all enjoyed it, and drop a review if you did, if not..meh.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**(*) = start/end of a lemon scene**_

 _ **5: Coming Home**_

* * *

Shizune was doing her early morning rounds and decided to pop in to see how Naruto and Tayuya were doing after yesterday's confrontation with Tsunade. Even though she knew that her sensei wouldn't hold it against the Genin, Tsunade knew how to hold a grudge.

As she lightly tapped on the door to the room, she opened the door slowly and peered inside. Tayuya's bed was the first things taht entered her line of sight as she entered, and found it empty. For a moment, the young woman began to panic, thinking the girl had made a run for it during the night.

But a light snoring attracted her attention to the corner of the room where Naruto's bed was, and found a sight that she would not soon forget. There, curled up on the bed was the missing redhead...with Naruto curled around her protectively.

Shizune had to bite her lip to keep herself from squealing aloud from the sight of the pair. Tayuya was curled up in a ball with her legs tucked close to her chest while she used her arms as pillows, facing Naruto. The blond himself had his arms around the girl loosely, his chin resting on the top of her head, and a silly little grin on on his face.

Shizune stumbled back out into the hall, nearly laughing as the adorable sight stuck with her, "Oh, what I wouldn't give for a camera right now!" She squeaked, hopping up on her toes excitedly. "Tsunade's going to be sorry she missed this!"

"Missed what, Shizune-san?" Kakashi asked, appearing behind the woman, and startling her.

Giving a startled yelp, she swung her clipboard out instinctively, only for him to catch it easily, giving her a slight eye-smile, "If that had hit me, I'd have been _board_ to death...get it?"

Shizune gave him a sour look, "That's all you could come up with?"

Kakashi shrugged, "Would you rather I pulled you into a broom closet?"

Shizune flushed, but kept her mouth shut. Truth be told, she would have enjoyed such an encounter, but she wasn't about to tell him that. "What are you doing here so early in the morning?"

"Can't I come wish my favorite medic good morning?" Kakashi asked, visibly smiling beneath his mask as Shizune swiped at him with her board again halfheartedly, a small smirk on her face.

"Don'y you try to con me, Hatake," she smirked at the man, "I know Tsunade-sama gave you new orders for Team 7, and I bet I know who's going to be replacing Sakura-chan when she's too bone tired from Shishou's training regiment."

Kakashi sighed dejectedly, "Alas, fair maiden has figured me out," he sighed dramatically, causing a giggle to burst from her, "As it so happens, I came to tell the lovely little couple that they are released into my custody to check out the old Uzumaki embassy." He said, smiling, "Legally, all of the propery belonged to Kushina-sama, and, by inheritance, Naruto. It's quite a nice piece of land."

Shizune smiled at that, "That would be wonderful since Naruto-kun lives in that horrible apartment!" She said, beaming at him before she checked her chart, "Tayuya-san is scheduled to have another healing session this afternoon, so you're free to do whatever you want until then. Naruto-kun's pretty much back to normal, but Tsunade-sama's just keeping him here to keep her company since they get along so well."

"Them?" Kakashi asked, jerking his thumb at the door, "Get along? Are we talking about the same pair of noisy gakis that were terrorizing Tsunade-sama yesterday?"

Shizune let a sly smirk cross her face, "Wanna bet me on that?"

"What's the wager?" Kakashi asked.

Shizune shrugged, "It's a win for you either way," she said, smiling up at him while batting her eyes at the masked Jonin, "You'll get your little closet quickie, but if I'm right, you lose the mask, and no Genjutsu this time." She said, and poked him in the chest, "Do we have a deal?"

"Deal," Kakashi smiled, "But I feel bad because there's not way you're seeing my face just yet."

Shizune smirked and cracked the door open again, finding Naruto and Tayuya still asleep, and curled up together. Kakashi poked his head in with a shushing gesture from Shizune, and found his one visible eye widening. "Well, that is surprising...at least we don't have to worry about the Uzumaki clan continuing on if this is any indication."

Shizune nodded, smiling, "It would be nice if Naruto actually had someone like that in his life," she said, stepping out of the room and closing the door quietly, "Hinata-chan is a nice girl, but she's far too timid around him to get anywhere."

"I agree," Kakashi sighed, following Shizune down the hall, eyeing the nearest closet, "Just how early are you doing these check ups, anyway?"

"Hm?" Shizune looked at him over her shoulder, "Oh, I do these about thirty minutes before the nurses do, it keeps me - kya!" Shizune soon found herself slammed up against the wall, "Kakashi?!"

"That just means we've got fifteen minutes before some nosy nurse comes along," he grinned, actually grinned as he pulled his mask down, which made the young woman blush. "What? A promise is a promise, after all."

 **(*)**

Shizune giggled as she reached a hand up to touch his face. As she had thought, his face was very angular, somewhat like his father, only he had more defining features he must have gotten from his mother, such as the little beauty spot just under the left side of his his lips. With his Hitai-ate pulled down over his left eye, even if it was meant to block his Sharingan, it gave him a roguish look to him.

She reached up on her toes and kissed the side of his mouth, "Why do you hide such a handsome face all the time?" She wondered before lowered his head to her lips as he fumbled around for the door knob.

She moaned as he picked her up around her waist with one arm, and pushed the door open with the other, locking it form inside. "So," he said against her lips, "Fifteen minutes?"

"T-twenty," Shizune moaned out, his lips going lower toward her neck, "I-It's a small staff today...oh, that's the spot!" She shivered as he trailed his lips down her neck, moving her kimono out of the way.

Kakashi grinned, "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

A sigh escaped her lips as she hitched her left leg over his hip, pressing him against her, letting her feel just how ready he was. Seeing as they were strapped for time, she decided foreplay was out of the question, unless they wanted an audience. She reached between them and clasped him through his pants, causing his him to groan.

Shizune giggled and parted her kimono for him, granting him access to the mesh top underneath. Rather than go for it, though, the one-eyed Jonin chose to bring both of her legs around his waist, reaching down to free himself, and nudged her underwear out of the way. He wasn't gentle when he pushed into her, her back thumping against the wall of the closet, shocking a laugh out of her as she moaned from his entry, her hands reaching up into his wild hair as he began a quick pace that left her breathless.

Fast and hard, just what she wanted after so long.

"Gods, you're so tight!" He groaned as he moved.

Shizune gasped as he pounded into her, "Y-you've - Aie! - been so b-busy l-lately!" She ground her hips against him in time with each of his thrust, "I-I'm close!"

He grunted in response and kept up his pace, feeling his own release approaching. He crushed his mouth against hers as he ground against her, her inner walls clamping down on him, forcing his own release to burst forth. Shizune mewled against his lips, her body shivering in delight as the pair of them sank to the floor.

 _ **(*)**_

She sighed against him, smiling in satisfaction, "I never get tired of this."

Kakashi chuckled, "You mean getting pulled into closets, or just everything in general?"

"Shizune!" A voice roared, making them both freeze.

"Oh crap!" Shizune scrambled up, desperately trying to fix her clothes, "This is bad! If Tsunade catches us -!"

"I'll be chasing Tora for the rest of my life!" Kakashi hissed, trying to think of a way out of the mess they were in.

"Perfume! I can't find my perfume!" Shizune whimpered as she searched her pockets before spotting the bottle on the floor. She sighed and sprayed herself down to try and drown out any proof of their activities.

Kakashi opened the door and peeked out, "Alright, the coast is clear," he told her, "Let's get outta here before - "

"Before what?" Tsunade said smugly as she leaned up against the wall beside the door.

"Ah!"

"Aie!"

Tsunade burst out laughing as the pair ducked back inside the closet, tapping the door with her knuckles lightly, "Make sure you clean up properly before finishing your rounds, Shizune-chi," inside the closet, Shizune blushed crimson, "and Kakashi, remember to take Naruto and Tayuya to the property like I told you, got it?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Both groaned in embarrassment.

Tsunade chuckled and made her way toward, Naruto's room to wake him, but she couldn't resist at least one more jibe. "Oh, and Shizune?"

Shizune shyly poked her head out of the closet, "Y-yes, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade grinned at the woman, "Next time, use one of the empty rooms, they have privacy seals installed to tune out noise." She grinned as a mortified expression crossed the poor girl's face.

"How could I forget that!"

~Fwing~

Naruto and Tayuya looked out over the large compound, the area badly grown up with weeds and small shrubs. "Man, it looks like no one's been here for years!" The blond said, moving a tuft of grass that was hiding a stone walkway. "It'd take me all day to clean this place up even with Shadow Clones."

Tayuya, standing on a pair of crutches, nodded in agreement, "What a dump."

"And it's all yours," Kakashi grinned behind his mask, far more cheerful than he usually was for some reason.

Naruto sighed, looking out over the land again. There was a large shrine at the back of the property that looked in decent condition, but other than that, what few houses there were, everything was in need of repair. The house that would take the least amount of time to fix, it seemed, was a large shinto style building that had two stories, and a rather large inner compound. In the center of it looked to be a large oak tree, probably a garden plant, at least he hoped that was the case since it would be a hassle to cut down such a large tree when it had grown through a house.

"We're supposed to live here?" Tayuya asked uncertainly, "Great...fan-fucking-tastic...I land myself in a powerful clan, and find out the only property they own is an overgrown - "

"Come on, Tayuya-chan," Naruto smiled back at her, "It's just a little work, and we'll have ourselves a nice place to live...way better than that nasty old apartment I lived in for so long."

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "Are you sure you don't want a few more Genin teams to help out?" He asked, "I'm sure that the others would be more than happy to help?"

Naruto grinned hugely, "Nah, I got this," he said, forming his signature jutsu's hand sign, "I could use the work out from lying in the hospital for so long," he said.

"And running around with Tayuya-chan chasing you was being lazy?" Kakashi asked, his eyebrow raised as Tayuya snorted.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto roared, and hundreds of puffs of smoke popped into existence. Tayuya looked on in amazement, seeing so many advanced clones was rare for someone as young as Naruto, who was only a year younger than herself, as she found out from Tsuande earlier that morning when it was made known to her that she was indeed an Uzumaki half-blood just like him.

Unfortunately, for some reason that was left unexplained, while Naruto had an insane amount of chakra even without the Kyuubi adding to it, Tayuya had average chakra for the rank of Jonin...speaking of which...

"Why the hell did she have to bust me back down to Genin?" She grumbled as she hobbled through the grass toward the main house where Naruto's army of clones was beginning to clear away the tall grass and fallen limbs from the surrounding trees.

"Standard procedure for a newly inducted shinobi," Kakashi smiled, "Depending on how high your individual skills are, we rank you where we think you would be best at."

"And for me that's the bottom?" Tayuya growled, pissed beyond belief. "I'll be damned if I have to work my way through some pansy ass D rank missions to earn some real cash!"

Kakashi sighed, "Don't worry, my team has some rotten luck when it comes to missions. Our first C rank was upgraded to A within a couple of hours of leaving the village, and the only reason we continued with it was because they all insisted on it."

"Man this place is huge!" One of Naruto's clones laughed as it scurried about inside the mansion, "There's like fifteen bedrooms in this house!"

"Oi, get back to work!" Yelled a clone that was cutting grass, "Don't be a slacker!"

"Look who's talking!" Yelled a clone on the roof that was tossing off broken tiles.

"Hey, we need some stuff to fix the screen doors!" One of the clones inside the house said.

Tayuya shook her head, "Man, those things are useful." She said as she sat herself down on the porch, rubbing her injured leg, "Wonder if I could do it?"

Kakashi shrugged as he watched the clones work, making fast work of the yard as he saw many of them making piles of limbs and grass in cleared off areas. "Shadow Clones are unique among cloning techniques, because the jutsu produces solid clones, and feed information back to the caster when they are destroyed or dispersed. They're really good for information gathering, and training with multiple jutsu."

"Yeah, I know all that," Tayuya sighed, "Orochimaru knows the same technique, but never taught anyone else because he liked keeping them to himself unless he was teaching someone he deemed special." She twirled her finger in the air in irritation. "All I ever got was Genjutsu training, and flute lessons."

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "Still, that is something that you were regarded as one of his best kunoichi when all you had was Genjutsu to fight with."

"And look where that landed me," she said, stretching her arms above her head, "Got myself blown to hell by a blonde bitch and her lazy ass boy-toy, and now here I am, with a broken leg, and a ticking time bomb on my neck if Orochimaru ever decides to find me."

"Jiraiya is working tirelessly to figure out a way to remove it," Kakashi assured her, "Once he does, you and Sasuke aren't the only ones that will need to be looked after. Another kunoichi in this village was afflicted by the same mark that Sasuke now has on his neck, but apparently it's slightly different than his."

Tayuya looked up at him, "If you're talking about that Anko woman I kept hearing about back in Oto, then I've got a pretty good idea why." She said, "That seal he put on her was the first one he ever used on a live human, and all others that came after that one were different because hers doesn't change her like mine does in the stage three mark."

Kakashi nodded, "I'd almost forgotten that you're classified as a level three seal user," he said, "Have you ever seen one of the seals removed?"

"Actually, I have," Tayuya said, surprising the Jonin, "thing about it is, though, it's not only dangerous, but it takes a long time to do. Orochimaru did it once, successfully, but he was completely drained of chakra, almost to the point of absolute zero. It's the most vulnerable I'd ever seen him until this whole thing with his arms." She said.

"How was it done?" Kakashi asked, but the girl shrugged.

"He used a high level seal that I'd never seen before," she said, thinking back on that particular day. "The subject complained about the seal causing him discomfort, and when Orochimaru had a look, he realized that the mark was incompatible with the host. Normally, he would have left him to die, but the guy had a unique kekkei genkai that he wanted to gain control of once he switched bodies, so he removed in favor of another seal."

Kakashi nodded, tapping his chin as he say beside her, "I see..did you see how the seal worked?"

Tayuya smirked, "Yeah, I did," she said, "when he started, the curse mark just started pealing away in layers. From what I saw, that's the only way to remove the seal without triggering the kill command etched in. It's the first thing to go, and then you're free to have a go at the real mark. But it takes a hell of a lot of time, and even more chakra to use a sealing method like that."

"How many layers would Anko's mark have?" He asked for the woman's sake.

Tayuya sighed and leaned back on her arms, and laid flat on the floor. "Being the first of it's kind, I'm gonna say that it's a two stage mark, instead of a three stage like mine. The first gives you a small power boos while covering the area afflicted by the mark, stage two is the same, except it pushes a drug into the body to keep the user wanting more, and stage three is the full transformation." She gestured to herself, "When I change, my skin turns dark, and I grow horns like an ogre, and I have golden eyes just like Orochimaru does when he's fighting a powerful opponent. All of us in the Sound Four had a refined stage three mark, while others were less so. We were more in control of ourselves even after the drug dose."

Kakashi grimaced as this mark sounded more and more nasty by the moment, "What about Sasuke's?"

Tayuya smirked at him, "Wondering when you were gonna ask," she grinned, "His is a little different than most. Besides the work he did on Anko, there have only been two he gave the Curse of Heaven to, and both of them have had an extremely rare, and powerful Kekkei Genkai. The first was Kimimaro Kaguya, who used the Dead Bone Pulse to make weapons out of his own bones. And the other was your little spazz of an Uchiha."

"What's the difference?" Kakashi asked, puzzled.

She shrugged again, "Every mark has essentially the same three marks," she said, holding up her hand and ticking them off on her fingers, "Obedience, power, and the drug introduction. But when Orochimaru places that particular mark on someone, that means he's chosen that person to be a potential vessel. Those marked with that one have the power bit doubled, making the draw of the mark almost irresistable because the drug being pushed into the system also has a small amount of enzymes from Orochimaru mixed in, making them drawn to Orochimaru himself, not just the power. Removing one of them would cause the mark itself to fight back, making it way too fucking difficult for anyone but Orochimaru to do because the mark would know its master."

"I see," Kakashi sighed, "So, in a sense, Sasuke has a stage four mark?"

"I guess so," Tayuya said, "There are subjects that have the rare stage four on them, but they usually don't live long enough to hold any merit." She said, shivering in recollection, "They became stuck in the stage three form, almost alway going insane with bloodlust, or just plain dying right off the bat. Some of them even turned to stone."

Hearing that, Kakashi almost immediately knew what the 'power' part of those marks were. _Senjutsu, that explains a lot!_ "Are there such cases as a stage five?"

Tayuya remained quiet, sitting up to watch Naruto and his clones. "There...there was one...but there's no chance of something like that happening again."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, curious.

Tayuya sighed, "All of us that have a curse mark change our forms in one way or another. If I had a stage four mark, I'd bulk up like an ogress, probably be taller, and twice as powerful as I was in the third stage." She said, "When Orochimaru created the fifth stage, that part became unstable. The one person that could control himself in that state rose up against Orochimaru, and came really fuckin' close to killing him. See, in that state, say, I used it. I wouldn't look like an ogress, I'd actually be one, in the flesh."

Kakashi nodded, "And, this man, what did he become?"

Tayuya smiled, "The only thing that could ever hope to challenge a viper, is a falcon." She said, smiling fondly, "But even if the falcon swoops down, and catches the viper, it'll still get bitten by the viper and die from it's venom."

The Jonin looked at her for a moment before sighing, "Sorry for bringing up a sore subject. He was obviously important to you."

"Closest thing I had to family until recently," Tayuya said, "he was older than me when we met. I was only seven, and he was already fifteen. Funny thing, he was a samurai from Tetsu no Kuni, and he had a Doujutsu as well."

"Did he?" Kakashi asked.

Tayuya nodded, "It's how he almost beat Orochimaru." She said, "It didn't have a name, and he was the only carrier of it. Orochimaru wanted to use him to breed a new line of Doujutsu users, but he refused. After he received his mark, he fought tooth and nail to keep alive and tried to escape every chance he got. Finally, Orochimaru got tired of it, and went to him. And that's just what he wanted. His Doujutsu forced the target's killing intent back unto themselves, and made them gut themselves whenever he turned his gaze on them. Orochimaru nearly fell right into it, but apparently meeting Uchiha Itachi made him more cautious around people with Doujutsu."

"I can guess what happened next," Kakashi nodded, "what was his name?"

Tayuya smiled fondly as she thought of the boy, "I always used to call him Gen-niisama to annoy him, but his name was Genosuke."

=|Unknown Location|=

Orochimaru ground his teeth in agony as his arms bled in their blackened form, "This is taking far too long!" He growled, "Sasuke will have to wait." He rose from his seat, "Should I take too much longer, that blasted Shinigami will claim the rest of this body just as it consumed my arms!"

He staggered into the hall where he found his white-haired assistant. "Orochimaru-sama, shall I prepare the subjects?"

"Yes," the man hissed in pain, "While I would have liked to have Sasuke as soon as he arrived, it appears the many of the Sound Four have perished." He growled, "I can no longer feel their marks. Only Sasuke's and Tayuya's remain."

"Perhaps they are on their way?" Kabuto suggested, "Who knows? Tayuya-chan could have defeated Konoha's forces?"

Orochimaru scoffed, "I highly doubt that foul-mouthed brat was able to defeat an entire squad." He said, "You said it yourself after sending Kimimaru-kun out, Konoha wanted their precious Uchiha prince back!"

"It's unfortunate, then, that Sasuke-kun won't be joining us," Kauto said, sighing, "I had hoped to examine his Sharingan. I could have used them in my research I took over from that fellow Danzo sent to us...Kido-san, wasn't it?"

Orochimaru grinned, "Yes, his idea of artificial Kekkei Genkai was intriguing," he said, licking his lips, "Such a shame that he was sending Danzo information on us, or else I may have let him live a little longer...now...go down and find me a decent vessel, the strongest one we have, preferably with a Kekkei Genkai."

=x=

Back at the Uzumaki embassy, the area was starting to look like a clan compound thanks to Naruto's hard work. When Tayuya returned from having her leg worked on, it was to find the blond finishing up the yard, and setting fire to a large pile of debris. "Wow, you've really been working, huh?"

Naruto looked up at her and smiled when he saw that she was standing, albeit leaning, on two legs instead of her crutches. "Yeah, I finally got everything cleaned up around here," he jerked his thumb toward the main house, "Turns out this place had some building supplies stored in the cellars, so I got the clones to fix up the inside and get everything ready for us to live here!" He grinned brightly at her, "Great, huh?"

"Fuck, yeah, it is!" Tayuya grinned, "This is way better than sleeping in a cell, or a underground like Orochimaru's compounds!" She said, taking in the area, and noted that all of the tall grass had been taken down, as well as the wild shrubbery, "Hey, you know I could've helped, right?" She said, scowling, "You didn't have to do all the work."

Naruto shrugged, "Eh, no big deal. I worked up a really good sweat, so I feel great either way."

"That's good, I guess," she said, "But I don't like being considered lazy, so next time you try so build or clean, tell me and I'll help."

Naruto grinned, "You're sure in a good mood, Tayuya-chan," he said, laughing when she scowled at him, "Something good happen?"

Tayuya smirked for a moment, and pulled a Konoha hitai-ate from her pocket, "Check it out, Shithead, I'm officially a Konoha kunoich!"

"Hey, great!" Naruto yelled excitedly, "Now you can help us track down Orochimaru!"

"After I get this mark off of me, dumb ass," Tayuya pointed to her neck, "Don't forget that that prick could still control me, or even kill me if I was close enough to him, so no way in hell am I going near him until that old pervert figures out a way to get rid of it!"

Naurto sighed, "Aw, well, I guess we have to wait around on Pervy Sage until he gets his act together." He grinned, "Wanna go grab a bite?"

Tayuya nodded, "I could eat, but can we do something besides ramen? I need something more substantial."

"Sure," he said, smiling, "Akimichi's Barbeque is only a few blocks away, and they never turn me out, and I really wanna hear about how Choji's doing." He said as he made his way toward her, and saw her stumble, "You okay?"

"Yeah, my leg's just a little weak, still," she said, then glared, "I'm not gonna let you carry me if that's what you wanna say."

Naruto smirked, "Aw, you know you liked it!"

"Aw, shut up, fucktard!" Tayuya roared, and began chasing after him as he blurred passed her. "Hey! Get back here!" She roared, tearing after him, her weakened leg forgotten, "What is it with you and running all the time!?"

"I usually don't have angry red heads chasing me!" He laughed.

* * *

 _ **Things are moving along nicely for our favorite blond, and red-head, but what's going on with Orochimaru? Woooweee! This is gonna be fun!**_

 _ **Don't forget to review!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Let's get this show on the road!**_

* * *

Jiraiya tapped on the door to Tsunade's office, and let himself in, "Morning, Honey - YEOW!" He yelped ducking underneath a thrown scroll, "What's the big idea!?" Jiriaya snapped, "I just came to ask if - "

"The answer is no, no, and still no!" Tsunade roared, glaring daggers at the man, "I've already told you that letting Naruto into the restricted section of the library is out of the question until he's at least Jonin!"

Jiraiya growled and crossed his arms, "The kid can handle it, Hime, it's not like he's gonna go for the first Triple-S scroll he finds!"

Tsunade scowled at him, "You're lucky we don't have anything that powerful save for my granduncle's reanimation technique," she sighed, frowning, "And why can't you just start out by teaching him some of your techinques? Your chameleon technique would do him a great deal as far as stealth goes?"

Jiraiya shook his head, "It's not that I don't want to teach him anything, it's that I can't, yet." He said, "Aside from the Rasengan and the Toad contract, many of my jutsu call for great chakra control. And he has those new eyes, so he needs a Genjutsu specialist to help him with that." He said, sighing, "he needs something else to keep him going, and the Rasengan, I'm afraid to say, is no longer enough."

"That can wait," Tsunade said, looking at the man, "Tell me, did you receive the info Kakashi and I sent to you on the curse marks?"

Jiraiya nodded, crossing his arms, "I did, and I can tell you that the technique Orochimaru used was likely based off an Uzumaki seal I know something about."

Tsunade looked at him hopefully, "Then you can remove it?" Her hopes fell when he began to shake his head, "What? Why not?!"

"Because the seal I'm thinking about does take an insane amount of chakra, and a fair amount of control" he said, sighing in disappointment, "Fact of the matter is, I don't have near the amount of chakra it takes to get the seal to work for me, let alone to use it."

Tsunade groaned, "Then there's no chance of us removing those damned marks from those three!" She sighed, "This is horrible!"

"I said that I didn't have the right amount of chakra," Jiraiya said, grinning, "But there's a certain young Genin I know of that has insane amounts of chakra, and has an insurmountable chakra battery he can draw on if need be."

Tsunade raiser her brow at him, "You're talking about Naruto?" She asked, "But he doesn't even have any knowledge of Sealing Jutsu, and you expect him to use an advanced technique?"

"He's got his Shadow Clones to help with that," Jiraiya said offhandedly, "What could take ten years could ten days with a lot of clones to help out. If he masters it, then we can use it without risk. Problem solved."

Tsunade sighed massaging her temple, "You're way too flippant about this, you know that? Naruto is not a quick study!"

"I know," Jiraiya grinned, "He's a kinesthetic learner, meaning training is his study. If I show him what to do, then he'll learn it by doing it himself, and keep at it with his Shadow Clones."

Tsunade nodded, "Yes, that could work, but...I don't want you filling his entire days with training," She said, sighing, "Whatever he is, he's still just a thirteen year old boy, even if he's a shinobi."

Jiraiya shrugged, "Hey, I'll do my best with the kid since we're staying in the village," the aging sage smiled, "I already promised him that I'd stay around for him like I should have the day I found out he was alive." His smile turned into a full blown grin, "So you'll have my handsomeness to keep things interesting around here, my little Slug Princess - YIPE!" He ducked under a paperweight. "Now what'd I do?!"

"Do _not_ call me 'Slug Princess'!" Tsunade roared, grabbing a desk chair, "Do you know how nasty that sounds!?"

Jiraiya probably should have kept his mouth shut, but the woman had left herself wide open for it. "Depends on whose slug it is!" He cackled and bolted out the door just as she threw the chair at him, shattering it against the wall of her office.

"Ugh!" Tsunade roared, "That was my favorite chair!"

She growled, and went to the closet, taking out a folding chair and plopped back down. As she fumed over the little encounter, a fond smile, "That old toad always did know how to push my buttons." She sighed, sitting back regarding the small packages by her desk. One was a box containing Naruto's Chunin flak vest, as well as two full sets of the Sarutobi clan's special adamantine kunai and shuriken, and some chakra paper. Everything that Naruto had earned with the promotion.

The other was a small parcel intended for Tayuya. Inside she would find a medium-sized scroll and a smaller scroll containing the Body Flicker techniques. If she was as right as she was hoping, then the girl was just like her father. Being a Genjutsu user, Tayuya naturally had a high amount of Yang chakra, even though her reserves were only on par with Asuma, she was, apparently, just as talented with Genjutsu as Kurenai was. Which was surprising, considering that woman could cast her illusions with single finger, almost as quick as any Uchiha.

But, if her lineage held true, she would also have a Wind nature, and possibly Fire or Lightning, but the clincher would be the Body Flicker. The blood testing hadn't lied, that much was certain, but to actually see if she was anything like him was something she dearly hoped, even if she never developed the Sharingan, which she vehemently hoped she wouldn't.

If she did, Tsunade knew that she would be hard pressed to keep the girl safe. A Kekkei Genkai always had a chance to pass on to a new generation, but the ratio was far greater if the father were the one that had the particular gift, which Tayuya's father had. But seeing as she had taken on the physical traits of the Uzumaki clan, the blonde Kage hoped that the Sharingan remained dormant.

She reached down and picked the items up, leaning on her desk, and smirked, "I guess I could drop in and see how they're doing?" She said, rising from her chair, "I need to pick up Sakura, anyway."

=x=

Tayuya woke up feeling more relaxed than she had in a long time.

For a moment, she couldn't recall where she was until she felt the fuuton mattress beneath her. It was certainly nothing like the cell she slept in back in Oto. And it was much softer than her hospital bed. And the best possible part? She could smell something good cooking, even though she knew the kitchen was a little ways from her chosen room.

She sat up in bed, sighing as she stretched her arms out over head, her stomach growling."Hm, whatever's cooking sure smells good," she sighed happily, "I can't believe I slept so well!"

There was a knock at her door, and none other than her blond host slid it open, a small tray in his hands, "Morning, Tayuya-chan!" He beamed, "Hope you're hungry!"

"Hell yeah," the girl smirked, "Serving me breakfast in bed, Shithead? Wow, you really know how to get on a girl's good side, huh?"

Naruto blushed a bit at the insinuation, but kept grinning, "Hey, when a girl chases you around as much as you chased me, you gotta give her something back, right?"

"Smart ass," Tayuya grinned as he set the tray beside her.

"Better then being a dumb ass," he shot back, "How's your leg?"

Tayuya looked down at her leg, flexing it a little, and smiled at feeling no pain, "Looks like I'm totally good," she said, "Man, I'll give you tree huggers one thing, you sure know how to treat a girl." She grinned and turned to the tray, "Is all that mine?" She asked, noting that it was loaded with scrambled eggs, toast, and a few slices of bacon.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, sorry it's not traditional or anything, but I don't know how to cook all that much...this is about as good as I can do."

Tayuya reached out and grabbed a piece of toast and bit into it, "This is...more than what I usually got under Orochimaru." She said truthfully, "I only ever got real food when I was away from the base." She picked up a piece of bacon, "And no one's ever been nice enough to bring me breakfast in bed...so thanks, Shithead."

Naruto grinned, "You know, I get that you're insulting me, but I'm kinda getting used to being called that," Naruto said, smirking at the girl, "Besides, I can tell you call me that with all your love, Ta-yu-ya-chiiii." He grinned wider as the girl blushed brighter than her hair.

"D-d-d-d-don't say 'chi' like that! It sounds completely wrong coming from a guy! And don't even think of using an affectionate with me, Shithead!" Tayuya roared, causing Naruto to laugh.

"Aw, man, I feel so loved right now!" Naruto laughed loudly whilst holding his sides, "You should see your face!"

Tayuya had half a mind to throw the plate of eggs in his face. Fortunately for him they smelled too good to waist. And it just so happened that someone decided to bang on the front door loudly enough that the blond couldn't help but hear it.

Naruto grimaced, "Who the hell knocks like that this early in the morning?" He grumbled, rising to his feet, "Be right back," he said over his shoulder, smirking, "Hopefully this won't take long, because I wanna start training again!"

Tayuya watched him go, and a plan start forming. Getting to her feet, she followed after him silently, making sure the long shirt she wore covered her lower half enough that no one could the shorts she wore underneath. Thankfully, her hair was messed up enough that she looked the part of a girl that had had a rough night...in a good way, of course!

Naruto hurried toward the front of the house, sighing as he heard a familiar voice that belonged to a certain loud mouthed Inuzuka, along with a few others he knew, one of them being Shikamaru telling Kiba to be quiet. He also heard the unmistakable sound of chips crunching, and figured that Choji was with them, and where there was Choji and Shikamaru..."Oh, no..." Naruto groaned as he slid open the door...and found it to be much worse than he thought.

Kiba, Akamaru perched on his head as usual, was there, along with the rest of his team consisting of Hinata, and Shino with their Jonin sensei, Kurenai Yuhi, who was giving the loud youth a sour look. Team 10 was in attendance, minus their sensei as Ino was talking loudly while Choji was muching away on barbecue chips. And then there was his own team, Sasuke in attendance, giving his teammate and friend an apologetic look as Sakura argued with her blonde rival for the boy's affections. Hinata stood off behind Kurenai, peeking out from behind her as Naruto opened the door. Kakashi gave the boy his customary eyes smile and salute, "Yo, Naruto-kun, we thought we'd come by and - "

"Naruto-kuuuun~," Tayuya's voice called out sleepily, setting Naruto's hair standing on end.

 _She wouldn't!_ Naruto gulped.

"Come back to bed already!" Tayuya said as she came into view, and Naruto felt his hopes of a normal morning fly straight out the window. She was barefooted, bare-legged, and her hair was beyond messy... _Yes, she would..._ Naruto slowly, almost mechanically, turned back to his friends, and saw all of them staring at him owlishly, all of the girls blushing with their hands over their cheeks, or in Sakura's case, her jaw hitting the ground, just like most of the guys were doing sans Sasuke and Shino, though Sasuke did look like he'd swallowed a pine cone, and Shino...was being Shino.

Naruto gulped when he looked up at Kakashi and Kurenai, one looked shocked, pleasantly so, and the other looking madder than a wet tiger...guess who that was?

"Uh...this isn't how it looks?" Naruto hazarded, ready to bolt the moment it looked like he was going to get it.

Kakashi gave a small giggle, "My cute little student's finally become a man!"

Kurenai gave the man a dirty look, "Kakashi, I hope you're not encouraging this?" Kurenai admonished, "I know that shinobi are encouraged to marry young, but Naruto is only twelve - "

"Thirteen," Naruto corrected. "I just had a birthday a few weeks ago."

Tayuya just _had_ to make things worse by coming up behind him and throwing her arms around his neck, leaning on him heavily, "Well, happy birthday, Naru-kuuun~!" She all but purred, making him shiver.

That snapped a certain rosette out of her stupor. Sakura growled, tic marks appearing all over her head as she clenched her fists, "Na-ru-to!"

Naruto yelped, "Nyaha, time to go!" He slammed the door shut and stumbled back into the house with Tayuya giggling away like mad as he made his escape...that is until the same rosette blasted the door open with her freakish strength, making the red-head pale. Doors weren't supposed to splinter like that from one punch!

"Aw, come on, Sakura-chan, I just fixed that!" Naruto whined as his teammate chased after them.

Kakashi and Kurenai watched and listened to the chaos unfold with varying expressions while the few Genin and single Chunin laughed, minus Hinata, at the blond's predicament.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Kurenai wondered, "I know the boy needs to be taught a lesson, but - "

Kakashi chuckled, "I'd like to see you try to get in between Sakur-chan when she's on the war path like that," he said, a small bead of sweat running down his face, "Besides...I doubt that she'll be able to catch Naruto...though I do fear for his home..." As he spoke, there was a resounding crash through the building, and a loud shout from Tayuya.

"WHAT THE HELL, PINKY!"

"SHADDAP! I'LL KNOCK THE HELL OUTTA O' YA FOR CORRUPTING NARU-BAKA!"

"WHY CAN'T EITHER OF YOU CRAZY GIRLS USE MY REAL NAME, DAMMIT!" Naruto roared, "AND STOP WRECKING MY HOUSE, -TTEBAYO!"

=x=

It was sometime later that the situation defused, and Sakura finally wound herself down. Catching two Uzumaki was not an easy feet, especially when one was known to be a ball of boundless energy...

"How do you have so much energy!" Sakura huffed, sagging against the wall of the house while Naruto jogged in place a few paces away. Tayuya, though less winded, was no better than Sakura only having just healed from her broken leg.

"Remind me never to fucking screw with that crazy ass girl again!" Tayuya groaned as she rubbed her leg to ease away a cramp, "She's got more power in that punch than Jirobo!"

Naruto sighed in relief when he saw that the rosette had calmed down. "You really think I'm gonna let myself be hit for something I obviously didn't do?" Naruto asked, jerking his thumb at the red-head, "She just likes to mess with people too much for her own good."

"And proud of it!" Tayuya grinned.

Naruto rolled his eyes, looking toward the rest of his guests, "So, what did you guys come by for?" He asked, "Not that I'm not happy to see you, ut nobody ever visits me apart from Kakashi-sensei and Pervy Sage."

Shikamaru shrugged, "I figured I'd come by and see how everything turned out after you got out of the hospital, but I never expected yo see her again," he said, pointing at Tayuya, "Let alone shacking up with you?"

"You can thank Kakashi for that," Naruto said, smirking, "And it turns out that she's part of my clan, so it all works out in the end for me."

"Clan?"

"That's right," Kakashi said, answering their question, "Naruto is indeed part of a clan, and one of the founding members of the village as well."

"Hang on a minute," Kiba butted in, "How is the dead last of the class part of a clan, I thought he was an orphan?"

Sasuke grunted, "Hey, knock it off, Kiba, don't forget I'm an orphan, too."

"Yeah, but - "

"My dad was the Fourth Hokage," Naruto growled out before Kiba could get started again, "My mom was Kushina Uzumaki, the last full-blooded Uzumaki known." He jerked his thumb at Tayuya again, "She's a half-blood, like me."

"And she's going to be a part of Team 7 starting from today," Kakashi put in, shocking Naruto and Tayuya as well as Sakura and Sasuke, "Since Sakura-chan is going to be training under Tsunade-sama, we were short a teammate, and Tsunade-sama decided it was best that Tayuya be put with us since she requested to be put in the shinobi forces."

"That makes sense," Sasuke said, "It'll also give you a good chance to keep an eye on her."

Ino was looking more stunned than any of them had ever seen her, but that didn't last before she gave the blond a flirty look, "Well, at least we don't have to worry about Naruto getting a girlfriend, seeing as Tayuya-chi already - "

"Aw, hell nah!" Tayuya spat, leaping to her feet, "Shitehead I can put up with, but there is no way I'm letting some blonde bimbo call me by pet names!" No sooner had she said that than she launched herself at the girl.

Ino smirked and brought her hands together, "Mind Trans- "

"STOP!" Naruto roared, and the room went completely black, the blond disappearing and the temperature dropping. Tayuya hit the floor beneath her, but felt as though she were lying on ice, cold as it was. She could even see her breath.

"Wh-what the hell - ?!" Ino yelped, her teeth beginning to chatter as the cold set in.

Hinata shivered and hid herself behind Kurenai further, while the woman crossed her arms, a smirk on her lips, "It's a Genjutsu...I never knew one could be this powerful...Naruto-kun, can you drop it, please?" She called out, her voice echoing.

A moment later, the darkness receded, revealing a tired looking Naruto, sweat beading his brow. "Dammit, that took a lot out of me!" He groaned, "Man, I've got to learn how to control these things!"

Hinata peeked out from behind her sensei and gasped when she saw the blood-red eyes Naruto now possessed. "Y-Your eyes!"

"Yeah, it's a new Doujutsu that I got from my dad's side of the family." Naruto explained, bowing his head apologetically, "Sorry about that."

Kurenai smiled as she saw his eyes, "A Kerryugan user, huh? I've never seen one before now."

"You know about this Doujutsu?" Kakashi asked, surprised.

Kurenai shrugged, "I came across one of the Chinoike clan a few years back." She said, making Naruto raise his head, "She was an old woman that possessed the matured Doujutsu, and even the blood manipulation that came along with it. Even in her age, she was a powerful kunoichi, and taught me a little bit about Genjutsu that I didn't already know." She looked at Naruto, "I'm not sure if any of them are still alive to this day, but you should know that just like the Uzumaki clan, the Chinoike clan were scattered by war."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, kinda figured that." He said, and rose to his feet, helping Tayuya up as he did, "I'll make some tea, then we can catch up on things...like how come Choji'sso skinny?"

"Hey," Choji smiled, "I'm trying to gain it all back!"

When Tsunade and Jiraiya arrived, it was to find the Uzumaki compound rowdier than usual, the voice of the Godaime's apprentice carrying over the din. "Well, I guess this explains why the Anbu couldn't find her." Jiraiya said, sighing, "This place has seals all around the perimeter!"

Tsunade sighed, "Now I can't chew them out for not completing their task," she grumbled, adjusting the packages she held, "Well, shall we?"

"Let's," Jiraiya smiled, "I can't wait to see the look on Naruto's face!"

When the Godaime knocked on the door, she was met by a loud laugh as Tayuya herself opened the door. A small spike of apprehension shot through her upon seeing her former master's teammates. "Uh...Should I get Sh-er, Naruto?"

"I came here to see you," Tsunade smiled at the girl, easing her worries somewhat, "I have something for you that I think you can make use of if you haven't already, and a summoning contract to replace those horrid ogres." She said, presenting one of the package she held under her arm.

Tayuya took it with a respectful bow, and a small smile on her face. "I...thank you, I - "

"Don't thank me, yet, dear," Tsunade smiled, "I'd like to see how well you can master those techniques." She said, tapping the box with her finger, "Inside you'll find a scroll containing the Body Flicker technique as well as it's follow up move, as well as the Crow contract. They're much more reliable than ogres."

"Thank you!" She said, beaming as she opened up the gift, "I've never used those before, and the Crows are used by one of the Akatsuki...Itachi, I think?"

Tsunade nodded, "That's right, but I think you'll find that these will serve you better than him," she said, "A very famous shinobi made himself a name by using these. Shushin no Shisui, a good man in my opinion, and every bit as fast with the Body Flicker as the Fourth was with his Flying Thunder God."

Jiraya smiled and inched his way around the pair in search of Naruto.

While he was doing that, Tsunade led the girl out into the yard to sign the contract. It was much smaller than a major summoning contract, where the creatures grew to tremendous size, but Tayuya didn't care. As she opened the scroll, she found two names before hers. One faded, signifying that the summoner had passed on, while the other remained as it was when it was first signed.

She bit down on her thumb and wrote her name right next to Itachi Uchiha's, almost forgetting to add Uzumaki to her name, smiling to herself when she did. It felt nice to know who she was.

"Alright," she said, making the necessary hand signs before slamming her bloodied hand to the ground, "Summoning Jutsu!"

A small puff of smoke was all that alerted her to her new summon's arrival. Sitting where her hand had come down was a large black crow cleaning his feathers. Tayuya held out her hand to the bird, and it hopped on, nibbling at her fingers when she reached to pet it.

"I think that means it likes you," Tsunade chuckled as the bird hopped onto her shoulder.

"Of course I do," the bird croaked, shocking the girl. "What? You didn't think I could talk?"

"Sorry," Tayuya said, "I've never had an intelligent summon before."

Tsunade nodded, "Truth be told, my friend, I didn't know that the Crows could talk, either."

The bird shrugged his wings, "We don't normally talk around anyone but our summoners, but I can sense you have the Slug contract, and we're friends with them. And the girl is now one of our summoners, so why wouldn't I talk?"

"That...sorta makes sense," Tayuya giggled like a little girl in a candy shop, "I'm Tayuya, Uzumaki Tayuya."

The bird cocked his head, "An Uzumaki, huh? Never had one of them for a summoner, usually we're given to the Uchiha more often than not, us or those stupid ninja cats." He fluffed his feathers, "I'm glad I got someone different."

 _She's different alright,_ Tsunade thought as the girl began to bond with the bird. _Now we just have to test out my theory of her being excellent at the Body Flicker._

"Tayuya," Tsunade smiled, gaining the pair's attention, "I'm going to give Team 7 a week to prepare for that rescue mission for the other Uzumaki girl you mentioned, so in that time, I'd like you to work on those techniques I gave you, and bond with your new summons." She reached into her robes, and pulled out a slip of paper, "Here, I trust you know what this is?"

Tayuya nodded, and took hold of it. Tsunade waited with baited breath as the girl chanelled her chakra into it. The paper split in half: Wind. The paper then began to burn around the edges before being engulfed, and turning to ash: Fire.

"So my primary element is Wind?" Tayuya smiled, "And Fire for a second."

Tsunade nodded, "The Fire element is weaker than the Wind element, but you can work on both of them to make them stronger." She said, beaming, "As it happens, one of our best Jonin is also a Wind and Fire user, so you can take lessons from him."

The crow on her shoulder cocked his head, "She's got a Lightning Chakra as well," the bird said, "I can sense it, but it's really weak as it is. She'll really need to work her tail feathers off to actually use it."

Tayuya looked at her new summon, "As long as I don't have to go through what I did with Orochimaru, then I've got no problem," she said, scratching the bird under the chin.

Tsunade smiled and guided the girl back toward the house, the crow still perched on her shoulder. As they passed into the house, she thought she saw someone for a moment. A dark-haired man smiling at the girl from the treeline. And when she looked back, he was gone. Tsunade had never been the superstitious type, but she couldn't help but feel a small smile coming to her face. "She's just like you," she whispered so that the girl couldn't hear her, "It's just a shame you never got to meet her, Shisui."

* * *

 _ **6:Tayuya Uzumaki**_

 _ **Daughter of Shisui Uchiha**_

* * *

 _ **Don't forget to review!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**_7: Rumbling Hearts_**

* * *

Jiraiya watched as Naruto's hand moved the brush slowly over the paper, his smile growing. "That's good," Jiraiya said quietly, hoping not to disturb him, "You have the form down, now we just have to practice the Jutsu itself."

Naruto placed his brush down and sighed, "Do you really thing I'm ready for that?" He asked, "It's only been three days since I started."

Jiraiya chuckled, "What's this? And here I thought that you'd be all gun-ho about this?"

Naruto bit his lip, "Yeah, but you said this seal was really dangerous if I got it wrong, and it's not only gonna be me that's gonna get hurt, right?"

Jiraiya shook his head, "You know, it never ceases to amaze me how much like your father you actually are," the old man said, taking a seat next to his apprentice, "Minato was quite against hurting others as well, even when someone defected from the village, he was reluctant to harm a fellow Leaf shinobi, totally unlike your mother, who would have clobbered him, most likely."

Naruto chuckled, scratching the back of his head, "Well, I'd clobber anyone that hurt someone precious to me, so - "

"You're like both of them," he said, patting the boy on the head, "And now you're a Chunin, they'd be proud of you. But back to this seal, Naruto. It's going to rely on all that chakra you have tucked away inside of you. All you have to do is keep it activated. Believe it or not, the seal itself is pretty simple from an Uzumaki's point of view."

Naruto nodded whilst studying his seal, "Well, yeah, I get that, but I'm only a half-blood, and I hardly know anything about seals, at least not until we started this one."

"You don't need to worry about that, kid," Jiraiya assured him, "The seal itself is fairly simple. As you charge the seal with chakra, all you do is keep your hands in place to feed it the chakra needed to work, and the best things about it is that you don't need to worry about over charging it. The more chakra you put into it, the stronger the seal becomes. Really the only downside to this one is that it still takes time. And it'll cause the person you're using it on quite a lot of pain."

Naruto grimaced as he looked down at the seal he would later inscribe onto his skin. "I don't like that idea at all."

"From pain you'll be able to free three people from a horrible curse," the aging Sage said, smiling, "The trouble will be keeping them still during the process. If we can't do that, the seal won't be able to take effect. Anko's is probably gonna be easy, but Tayuya and Sasuke's are gonna be hell on them."

Naruto's thoughts turned to the fiery girl that had entered his life not so long ago. Along with Sakura, Tenten, and Ino, she now trained with Tsunade, and was well on her way to mastering her techniques given by the Godaime.

Sakura's strength was already mind blowing, considering she had excessive strength even before she had taken to Tsunade's teachings. While Ino would never have such strength, both girls were taking to the medical training with a clear competition between them. Tayuya and Tenten were doing their best to keep up with them, but as far as medical training went, it was clear that Sakura was leagues ahead of the pack. Tenten's strength levels were rising day by day, as were Tayuya's.

Thankfully, Tayuya had struck up a friendship between the other kunoichi, even after her failed attempt at pranking Naruto, leading said blond to replacing his front door.

Kurenai had taken a shine to the girl as well, seeing as how both of them were Genjutsu wielders. As for Naruto's Kerryugan, Kakashi and Kurenai had taken a hand in his training to control his Doujutsu, and his illusions. Naruto now had a small amount of control over his new eyes. At the very least he wouldn't be casting Genjutsu on anyone without knowing what was happening.

As far as controlling blood, however...Naruto shivered. There was no way he wanted a power like that! More was the pity that no one knew how to activate the bloodline limit. As far as the blond Uzumaki was concerned, he'd rather not learn how to use it, but sooner or later he'd have no choice, given that his Kerryugan and Blood Release worked hand in hand. With the activation of his eyes, his power over blood would soon follow.

Sasuke was another matter. With him being released, he was still unable to train as he wished. Most of the three days saw the last Uchiha roaming the village, a small group of civilians from the merchants' council following closely. And if they weren't following him, Anbu definitely were, that or the merchants' daughters.

Needless to say, the sooner Sasuke's mark was removed, the better for his daily sanity, or lack there of, all things considered. Meanwhile, even though the young Uchiha had his family's advanced Doujutsu, Naruto was the only one he'd told about it. Naruto found it funny that it was because he had technically died for a few minutes that had sent Sasuke over the edge mainly because the same thing could be said about his own Doujutsu.

"Finished wool gathering?" Jiraiya said, rapping the boy on the head, smirking, "Come on, Naruto, let's take a break."

Naruto nodded, smiling as he rose from the table he was sitting at and followed the man out. As they left the house, Tayuya, alongside Sakura, was making her way onto the compound. Both girls were looking more than a little upset.

"What's got you two so mad?" Naruto asked, grinning widely.

Tayuya spat, and crossed her arms, "Someone grafittied the compound walls!" She snapped, "The fucktards spray painted a bunch of bullshit all across the walls, and even painted that stupid flea bag you've got locked away on the wall!"

"They did what?!" Jiraiya roared, surging forward, and passing through the gate, Naruto chasing after him. As Jiraiya skidded onto the streets, it was to see someone dropping a can of paint to the ground, and running down the street. Jiraiya growled and shot after him like a thrown shuriken and grabbed the man by the collar, dragging him back just as quickly.

Naruto waited, looking at the walls of his clan's compound. It was nothing he wasn't used to. Only, the words "Demon Whore" had been added. That's what made the blond angry.

Jiraiya slammed the man against the wall, growling, "Just what the hell do you think you're doing, you idiot!?" The man roared, "This is a compound dedicated to the Uzumaki Clan, and you've just defaced it!"

"What does it matter?!" The man growled, "It's just the home of a demon, now! The Uzumaki are dead!" He spate, looking down at the blond, "You're nothing more than that monster trapped in human form! You're the reason my wife and child are dead!"

"He's the son of the Fourth!" Jiraiya roared, "You disgrace his sacrifice!"

The man just sneered at him, "He disgraced this village for allowing that monster to survive!" He yelled, "He should have been strangled the day he was born!"

That did it. Jiraiya reared his arm back to smash the man's head into oblivion...until the small palm of Naruto's hand landed on his wrist. Jiraiya looked down at the blond boy, and saw the anger in his eyes that flashed between blue and red, but he also something else; pity.

Jiraiya dropped the man to the ground and Naruto stepped in front of him. "I don't know what it's like to lose someone I love," the blond began, shaking his head, "I've been lucky that way so far. But I do know what it's like to be completely and utterly alone." The man flinched, "Even the Nine-Tails wants that for me, to make me hate." Naruto said, smiling sadly, "Did you know he likes to taunt me? Show me things that make me want to hate the world?" Naruto asked, looking the man in the eyes, "He showed me images of my parents the night they died, and how he killed my mother as she tried to defend me from him. He did it with a smile on his face." Jiraiya looked at the boy in shock as well as Sakura and the man sitting on the ground, "Yet here I am, still keeping him locked away inside, and keeping the village I grew up in safe."

"Why defend a village that does nothing but hate you for what you are?" The man asked in sinful curiosity, "How could you possibly fight for us?"

Naruto smiled beamingly at that, "Because I found people that know about him, and don't hate me. I have friends that accept the fact that he's a part of me." Naruto said, smiling warmly at Jiraiya, Sakura and Tayuya, who blushed lightly upon seeing that smile turned on her. He then turned his attention back to the man, "This village has my loyalties...but it will never have my hate."

With that, the young Uzumaki turned toward the stone walls of his compound, "Ah, looks like it needed a new paint job anyway." He said, looking over at Tayuya and Sakura, "I'm gonna go down and get some paint to cover this. Orange and red look like the best choice since it was kind of the Uzumaki's color."

Jiraiya watched the boy walk down the street as merry as a lark before Tayuya ran after him, "Oi, wait up! You're lousy at picking out the best colors!"

"Get real, it's my wall," Naruto said.

"I live there, too, ya jackass!"

"Only because Granny says so." Naruto grinned.

As the pair moved off, Jiraiya couldn't help but smirk, "You know, you're lucky," he said to the man, "If it were left up to me, you'd be dead for hurting my godson so much." He turned and glared at the man, "That being said, spread the word that if anyone decides to try this or any other stunts like this again, I won't be as nice as I was today...understand?"

=x=

Some time later found the two resident Uzumaki, brushes in hand and painting the walls of the compound crimson, the traditional color of Uzumaki armor. In some spots, Naruto planned to paint the clan symbol when the previous coat dried. "You know you don't have to help me if you don't want to," he said to his housemate as the girl swiped her brush across the stone walls, "I could put this up in a few minutes with my shadow clones."

Tayuya shrugged, "Hey, I already said that if things needed to be done around here, then I'd help out, no questions." She said, not looking at the blond for a moment, before something in her gave, "Naruto...how do you do it?"

"Do what?" Naruto asked curiously, looking over at her once more, and saw that her hand which held the paint brush was shaking violently. "Tayuya-chan?"

She turned toward him, her face flushed with anger, and tears brimming in her eyes. "I mean how can you put up with shit like that!" She pointed at the wall that was still vandalized. "How could you just give that guy a slap on the wrist for saying all of that!? He insulted you, your dad, and pretty much said you never should'a been born!" She yelled, "Even when I was being trained by Orochimaru, I never saw anything so horrible! The way the people look at you! How can you just smile like that all the time!"

A brush clattered to the ground and Tayuya found herself wrapped in the blond's arms as her frame shook with barely contained rage. She stiffened from the contact at once. No one, at least none that she remembered, had ever held her before the blond shinobi. Being held by him calmed her for some reason, as it had not so long ago when he'd saved her from falling. But now it was completely different.

"It's not easy," Naruto said against her hair, which made the girl shiver, "all of their hate, the staring, the whispers...for so long I never knew why they looked at me like that," he said, drawing back and wiping something away from her cheek. She hadn't realized it until then that she was crying.

 _What the hell's wrong with me,_ Tayuya thought, _I haven't cried since..._

She was brought out of her thoughts when Naruto started speaking again. "Even when I found out, I still didn't really understand it." He went on, shaking his head, "If I had the fox inside me, then why did everyone want me to fail, and not become a shinobi? Shouldn't I become stronger to keep myself under control?" He shook his head, "It wasn't until a little later that I figured it out. Just like Sasuke, I was a reminder of something horrible. Sasuke reminds people that one man destroyed an entire clan in a single evening, and nothing could stop him. I remind everyone that more than half the village was destroyed, hundreds were killed, and that my father, the Fourth Hokage, died in battle when he'd just single-handedly destroyed Iwa's attacking army during the last war."

He drew back, letting Tayuya settle herself down from the contact between the two of them. "I wanted so much to hate them," He went on again, "But I didn't want to give them the satisfaction of being right about me. So I pushed it all away, and went out of my way to make friends with my classmates. I wanted to make people see me for me, not the Nine-tails, but Naruto Uzumaki."

"I'm glad you're here, though," he said before she could respond, "Until you came along, I lived alone, and had no one to really call close to me, not even my sensei until Pervy Sage, and old man Teuchi and big sis Ayame. They're all I had."

"And me?" Tayuya found herself asking.

Naruto grinned at her, "You're way different than they are," he told her, scratching the back of his head, "You're...well, not like any girl I've ever met before. Not like Sakura, that's for sure, and you're way different than Hinata - "

"I don't know her." Tayuya deadpanned whilst crossing her arms, "And comparing me to other girls ain't the best way to make me feel special, ya know?"

"But I like that you're different," Naruto said hurriedly, hoping he hand't upset her. "I mean, Sakura was always going on about Sasuke, and Hinata's so shy that she barely talks, but you're...well, nice...really nice."

Tayuya uncrossed her arms, and placed her hands on her hips, "Nice how? I'm not exactly a model citizen, Shithead. Remember I was trained by a manic pedophile with a fetish for weird ass eyeballs."

"I mean you help me when you don't have to," Naruto clarified, "And you comforted me when I was arguing with the Nine-tails...I'll always remember that," he said truthfully, blushing slightly at the memory as she did. "I can laugh with you like no one else, and talk with you so easily." He said, listing off what he liked about her, "and you're really pretty - "

"P-p-pretty!" Tayuya shrieked, turning as red as her hair, "Are you nuts!" She swiped at him with her paint brush before she realized what she was doing, and left a large red streak down Naruto's face, a dumbfounded expression across his features. "Uh..." Tayuya looked from the blond to the brush before hiding the offending item behind her back, "Sorry?"

"Uh-huh," Naruto said, before a deviously little smile crossed his face, and dipped his hand into the paint bucket. Tayuya knew exactly what was coming, and backed away from the blond.

"Don't even fucking think about it!" She snarled, but, quick as you please, Naruto lunged and planted his hand smack-dab on her face, leaving a handprint in his wake. Tayuya blinked owlishly before a snarl came to her face, "YOU. ARE. FUCKING. DEAD!"

Naruto laughed and danced out of range as she swiped at him with her brush again, his tongue out at her. "Gotta e quicker than that, Tayuya-chi!"

"Don't fucking call me Tayuya-chi!" The red-head roared and chased after him, only to watch as he tripped over one of the buckets. The paint can sailed over their heads, spilling its contents all over the pair. Naruto sat on the ground, completely drenched in paint, just as Tayuya was, the girl's nose wrinkling in disgust. "Ugh! Dammit, I'm never gonna get this shit outta my fucking hair!"

Grinning, Naruto couldn't help the snicker that rose up before he burst into full blown laughter while Tayuya scowled at him.

"It's not funny, asshole!" She snapped, her hands on her hips, "How are we gonna finish the wall!?"

Naruto just continued laughing. Tayuya shook her head, a smile of her own coming to her lips as her own laughter started bubbling up as she burst into giggles.

=x=

Tsunade sat back in her chair, smiling at the bit of news she'd just heard. "So you think there might be something between them?" She asked of her old comrade, "I'll admit that it'd do the boy a world of good to be interested in someone besides Sakura-chan, but it hasn't been that long since she was brought to the village?"

Jiraiya just shrugged, his arms crossed as he recalled the events he'd looked upon from the rooftops as the pair painted over the compound walls. "Stranger things have happened," he reminded her, "Remember how Kakashi and Shizune-chan started up?"

Tsunade blushed, "I honestly try to forget that."

Jiraiya snickered over that bit of information, because, in all honesty, he had been surprised that Kakashi even liked women. Rin was one thing, but the man hadn't shown any interest in women since his former teammate. Of course, a few rounds of strong Sake, Jiraiya's own personal stock of Fire Toad Sake, no less, and the two had literally opened up like flood gates. Jiraiya had gotten just enough research out of it to publish his next book.

Tsunade, needless to say, was horrified when she found the two, but was nonetheless happy for them...only wishing she hadn't caught them in the act.

"Laying all jokes aside," Jiraiya said, "I think that there might be something there. Naruto-kun surely seems to be growing attached to her, and I can't say Tayuya-chan liked the fact that this village still views Naruto as the Kyuubi." He looked the woman in the eyes, "She cried for him, Tsunade. How many people have you seen do that aside from yourself?"

Tsunade sat back, frowning, "I just don't want to get my hopes up." She admitted, "Tayuya-chan doesn't seem to be much for signs of affections, let alone shows of emotions."

Jiraiya nodded, "That's true, but even the hardest stone can crack with enough pressure. The hatred the civilians have towards Naruto-kun is almost enough for me to demand him be taken to Mount. Myoboku so that I can make him into a force to be reckoned with. No one would dare harm him after I was through with him."

"Yet he wants to stay in the village and train alongside his team." Tsunade said, smiling, "They're his family, Jiraiya. You can't take that away from him, as much as you want him to be strong."

Jiraiya just chuckled, "He'd pitch a fit if I tried to take him away from Tayuya-chan, that's for sure," he said, smiling fondly, "I know you think it's too soon for something like this to happen, but it has. If they aren't crushing on each other, then I'm the Sage of Six Paths."

Tsunade actually giggled at this, and smiled at the man, "I'm not making any bets with you on this one, you old goat. We'll just have to wait and see where all of this goes." She said, hoping that, for once, her old comrade was right. "How long until Naruto is ready to perform the sealing Jutsu?"

"Any day, honestly," Jiraiya said with a shrug, "I was planning to test it out on something simple tomorrow so he could get a feel for the Jutsu, but I get the feeling that he'll want to do something physical soon. So it's gonna be some nose to the ground sparring and team building exercises tomorrow with Tayuya and Sasuke back on the team, and hopefully Sakura will be there as well. I'd like to see how well they all work together. She didn't seem to have a problem with the other two, or them her, but we need to see how they fit together as a team."

"I agree with you there," she said, nodding, "She gets along well with Sakura and Ino when they train in the healing arts, and she's quite well off as far as our combat training goes. She's all but mastered the Body Flicker technique. And the Crows have accepted her completely. As far as all that goes, she's right up there with Sakura, even though she doesn't have the natural physical strength Sakura seems to possess, she is fast, and has incredible chakra control."

"So was her father," Jiraiya said, gaining a surprised look from Tsunade, "Oh, come on, Hime, I'm the spymaster of Konoha! How could I not find this out!?"

=x=

"Dammit, this stuff just won't come out!" Naruto growled as he scrubbed at his scalp furiously, "Tayuya was right, this sucks!"

The door to the bath slid opened and said ginger walked in, "Still scrubbing?" She asked as Naruto yelped and ducked under the water, "What the fuck's up with you?"

Naruto came back up and scowled at the girl, blushing brightly as he saw her, clad in only a towel, "What the hell are you even doing in here!?" Naruto snapped, "I told you I was gonna get cleaned up!"

"Yeah, and I wanted to get this shit outta my hair," Tayuya said nonchalantly striding into the room and stepping into the water, sinking up to her shoulders with a tired sigh, "What? You gonna tell me you've never seen a naked girl?"

"Of course I have!" Naruto snapped, "I just didn't expect you to just waltz in here while I was in here!"

Tayuya just crossed her arms behind her head, "It's not something to get upset about. Orochimaru didn't exactly care about our bathing habits. We all pretty much bathed whenever we had the time, and didn't care who was already in the bath or not." She said, shrugging, "I've seen loads of naked guys and girls, and it's nothing that I find offending if that's what you're worried about...or are you just shy about being seen naked?" She grinned mischievously at him.

Naruto growled, and sank low into the water, not rising to the bait. "Hey, can I ask you something?" He said, looking over at her for a moment.

"Sure, what?" Tayuya asked.

"Well, Sasuke's curse mark made him look...different," he said, looking at her a little easier now, "Did yours do something like that?"

Tayuya grew a somber look across her face, "You mean did it make me look like a monster?"

Naruto gulped, "I...I guess so?"

Clasping the towel around her tighter, she rose from the water, making Naruto look away as it clung to her developing body, "Wanna see?"

Naruto was more concerned over his own body than his curiosity at the moment, even as he raised his eyes up to her. Her brown eyes were on him just as his were on her, a hint of fear hidden within them. Slowly, his head bobbed up and down in answer.

Tayuya gave a small smile as she began to draw on the seal's power, the black and red marking spreading across her skin. Naruto watched in fascination as the pattern blackened her skin for a moment as it covered her body, and gave way to a dark, caramel-colored skin beneath. The whites of her eyes had become black as pitch, the irises having become the color of molten gold surrounding her pupils. Her hair had become a pale pink in color, and two long horns had sprouted from her scalp.

A small blush darkened her cheeks as she felt his eyes on her. He rose from the water, coming closer to her. "I know," she said quietly, "I look horrible don't I?"

"No," was the answer she received, "You look...b-beautiful."

The girl's head snapped around, finding the blond standing right next to her, his eyes wide with wonder as he took in her transformed state. _Beautiful...? No one's ever called me that._ She thought, the blush deepening. If it were someone she knew from Orochimaru's ranks telling her such a thing, she knew it would have been a ploy to get her into bed with them, a trick she had seen too many times with the other kunoichi in their ranks. But it was different with the blond.

When he said it, she actually believed it.

She looked down at his chest, away from those eyes of his that always seemed to fascinate her, and her gaze fell upon the large scar on his chest. She reached out a hand and placed it against the ruined flesh, making him shiver as he covered her hand with his own, the color draining from her skin as she began to return to normal.

His touch felt far warmer than the water, sending a pleasant heat up through her arm. So focused on each other as they were, they hadn't noticed how close they had moved until they stood but a few inches away, a fact that startled the girl. "I-I think I've been in here a little too long," she said, fanning herself with her fingers, "I'll see you later, Naruto!" She hurried out of the water and made a dash for the door. All the while the blond watched her go, a confused look across his face as he placed his hand over the spot where her fingers had been.

Meanwhile, Tayuya had snatched up her clothes, and made a mad dash to her bedroom, leaning against the door as she tried to catch her breath. "Wh-what the hell was that!?" She asked herself as she slid to the floor, her heart pounding. She placed her hand over her chest, trying to calm herself, "What's gotten into me? I've never..." the redness in her cheeks returned full force as she recalled what had happened only moments ago. "No one's ever looked at me like that."

* * *

 _ **This took a while to get out, for two reasons, one of them being a bad bout of writer's block, and the other being a whole lot of family drama BS. Anyway, the romance has officially begun for our favorite blond and ginger, but the next chapter is going to be focused on this story's #2 couple of Sasuke and Sakura, but don't worry, as our #1 couple will have plenty of spot light because our dear little Tayuya has no idea what the hell's going on!"**_

 _ **Don't forget to review!**_


	8. Chapter 8: Girl Talk & Guy Talk

_**Wow, you guys are great. I really liked your comments on Tayuya's reactions to Naruto's comments. As it's been said, Tayuya has no idea how to take compliments, let alone from a boy. Now, in the last chapter, I did say that this one would focus on the story's second couple, Sasuke and Sakura. Not to worry, it's not entirely focused on them.**_

 _ **P.S. 8/20/17**_

 ** _Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, really. Also, since the name of Naruto's Doujutsu was changed, I'll be going back and updating the name and appearance of the "Ketsuryugan"._**

 ** _And as an added bonus, an extra pairing is officially added to this story, because these two are just too under used._**

 _ **8: Girl Talk & **__**Guy Talk**_

* * *

Naruto sat seiza in the center of a sealing circle, chanting a short mantra that was meant to go along with the casting of the seal he was working on. But his focus was elsewhere. Namely on a certain red-haired young woman that had recently entered his life.

Growing up, Naruto's mind had once been occupied with thoughts of his rosette teammate, Sakura. In the passed week, however, as Tayuya had taken to living with him in the old Uzumaki compound, his thoughts had been wandering further and further from his first crush. It wouldn't have done any good, he knew, because even before going after Sasuke, Sakura had been getting farther and farther out of his thoughts.

It was clear, even to him who wasn't the smartest of his friends, that Sakura was irrevocably attracted to his other teammate, Sasuke. And, though he would never admit it, Sasuke was growing closer and closer to the rosette medic in training. He had seen them more than once together around the village, and Sasuke actually looked pleased with her company.

A tap on his shoulder brought him out of his failed chant, making him look up to see Jiraiya standing there. "A ryo for your thoughts?"

Naruto sighed and stood up, "Sorry, I know I'm supposed to be getting ready for the sealing method, but - "

"Your mind wanders to matters of the heart," Jiraiya said, sounding wise for once, smiling as he sat down, giving the boy a level-eyed look, "Just what's eating you, Naruto?" He asked, smirking, "Is it Sakura, or is it Tayuya-chi?"

Naruto grimaced. "She doesn't like being called that."

"Tayuya, then," he said, snapping his fingers with a grin. "Thought as much."

Naruto frowned, "It's not like that, Pervy Sage."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes, "That's what your father said as a fresh Genin when he and Kushina palled around." He said as Naruto flushed red, "Come on, Naruto, this isn't me trying to do some of my research. This is me trying to help my student."

Naruto shook his head, sitting back down with a flop, "I don't know, but...she's...different."

"Different how?" Jiraiya asked, looking at the boy in interest, his arms crossed.

Scratching the back of his head, Naruto sighed, "That's the thing...I don't know." He confessed, "There's tons of pretty girls here in the village, but with her..."

"No one else can compare," Jiraiya smiled in understanding, "To you, no one else can look so beautiful, yet so terrifying, and fragile, all at once." He said as the boy looked at him, a little shocked, "So beautiful, you want to approach, yet you fear what she would turn you away if you did, and so fragile you fear harming her yourself."

Naruto nodded slowly, "Y-yeah, that kind of feels like how...how she makes me feel."

Jiraiya chuckled and patted the boy on the shoulder. "And so the boy becomes a man," he said, "How long have you felt like this?"

Naruto looked embarrassed, "We were in the bath two nights ago," he said, Jiraiya remaining quiet as he spoke, "I asked her about her curse mark, and she showed me what she looked like."

Jiraiya frowned at that, "Uh-oh, what'd you do? Say she looked weird?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, I thought she looked...well, beautiful," he blushed, shaking his head again, "I mean, I've never seen anything like what she looked like right then," he said truthfully, "Her skin was so dark, like melted caramel, or something. And her _eyes_!" He shivered as he remembered how those black and gold orbs had looked when turned on him. "I've never seen eyes like hers before. Even when she's not transformed, they're way different than anyone else's."

"The eyes of a seasoned kunoichi," Jiraiya stated with a nod of his head, smiling, "Knowing Orochimaru, he got her young, way younger than a shinobi should be trained, and made her what she is as a fighter." He said, "You've never seen it, Naruto, but to a trained eye, even a kunoichi in disguise can be spotted by eyes like that. Cold, yet at the same time, warm and inviting."

Naruto shook his head, "That's not it." He said, thinking back on the look she'd given him in the bath just before touching his scar, the only scar he had on his body, actually. "When she looked at me, it's almost like she didn't believe me, like no one had ever said she was pretty or anything like that."

"Ah," Jiraiya nodded, "Probably because she hadn't until then." He said, smirking, "What did she do then?"

Naruto rubbed the center of his chest, "She touched the scar Sasuke's Chidori left." He said, "And I...held her hand for a minute...then she left in a really big hurry."

At this, the old man chuckled. "Naruto, you really are a knucklehead, you know that?" Naruto frowned, but the old man just sighed, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Tayuya's never had anyone tell her that she's pretty, or anything like that. And you're probably the only boy she's ever been close to like this. Think about it. She's acting the way she is because, even though she doesn't know it, the girl has a thing for you."

Naruto blushed, "Really?"

"Uh-huh, and I'd say you feel the same," he said, grinning as the boy's face went a deeper shade of red."Naruto, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's nice to see you taking an interest in someone other than Sakura."

The blond sighed, "I guess, but she's way different than Sakura-chan." Naruto admitted, "She's violent, yeah, but she's...she's sweet, and kinda shy - "

"Damn," Jiraiya muttered, shaking his head with a slight smile, "I was wrong, you're not crushing, you're smitten, kiddo."

Naruto looked worried, "So...what do I do?"

Jiraiya shrugged, "If Tayuya's reactions are anything to go on, keep doing what you've done up until now." He said, "Just be with her. She's still new to all of this, so she won't know what to feel until it pretty much smacks her in the face."

Naruto smiled, "Okay, so just keep being me," he sighed, "I can do that."

=|Meanwhile|=

Tayuya sat back against the tree with a sigh of relief. The morning's training session was brutal as always, and she was feeling it more than usual. She hadn't been sleeping as well as she usually did under Naruto's roof. She didn't want to admit it, but the reason for her lack of sleep was her host.

" _You look beautiful._ "

She sighed and tucked her legs up to her chest, ' _Just what about me is beautiful when I look like that?_ ' She wondered as she watched Sakura sparring with Tsunade whilst she, Ino, Tenten and Hinata rested. She reached up to touch the mark on her neck, ' _Still...he's the only one that never looked at me, and wasn't afraid of me when I changed._ '

"I don't get it," Ino panted, sweating profusely, "Where's Forehead getting all of that energy?" She asked as she watched Sakura get knocked back again, only for the rosette to get right back up and start again at the Godaime.

Tenten giggled as she fanned out her blouse, "Gotta give her credit," she said, watching the pair as Sakura nearly connected a punch, "She's getting better. As far as fighting strength goes, she's got all of us beat."

"Hinata can beat her in straight up Taijutsu, though," Tayuya put in for the blunette's benefit. "Sakura's got way more strength than any of us, but Hinata has us all beat as far as training goes."

Said Hyuuga only gave a tired smile, "Thank you, Tayuya-san. But you've all got much more stamina than I do."

"KYAAAAAAA!"

All four girls looked up as Sakura came careening out of nowhere and crashed into the ground. Tayuya coughed as the impact kicked up a dust cloud around them. Sakura was laying on the ground, her eyes whirling around in swirls, "I...I think I've had enough for today..." she mumbled as Tayuya looked over her.

"That's probably a good thing," she said, "Cause guess what?"

"What?" Sakura asked.

Tayuya just grinned, "YOU GOT KNOCKED THE FUCK OUT!"

Ino and Tenten cracked up laughing as Sakura slumped while Hinata, holding in a giggle or two of her own, comforted her.

Tsunade chuckled as she walked over to the battered group of girls, "Well, you've all done well for today, girls, I'm impressed."

Sakura righted herself and sat up, "Yeah, but we've all got a long way to go before we're up to your level," the rosette sighed, "We're still getting thrashed."

"Well, of course you are," Tsunade said, smiling, "I've had years of experience as far as combat goes, so my strength is way out of your league."

Tayuya smirked, "Yeah, then what's Pinky's deal?" She asked, jerking her thumb at the girl in question, "She's got all of us beat in brute strength, and her chakra control's almost as good as mine."

"Sakura, as a civilian, has a very strong bone structure, and since she was from a civilian family, her chakra levels have always been low," Tsunade said, looking down at the rosette, "Most of the time, a civilian turned shinobi has very good chakra control because they start out with small reserves, and build them up over time, thus leading to manageable levels as time goes on. Her muscles mass has something more to do with her strength as well. She has a rare type of muscle build that naturally channels chakra throughout her body, making her punches and kicks stronger than average. Couple that with shinobi training and she has at least low Jonin strength."

Tayuya looked at the pink-haired kunoichi as she finally recovered enough to sit up, "Huh, no wonder she hits like a like a ton of bricks," she commented, thinking back to the time she'd knocked her front door down.

Tsunade chuckled, "That, and she has a temper," she said approvingly, "Now, you girls run along, and rest up for tomorrow's training session."

Sakura stood up and dusted herself off, "Thanks for the lesson, Tsunade-sama." She chirped happily.

Ino looked at her in confusion, "You're energetic all of a sudden," she said, frowning, "What's got into you?"

Sakura placed her hands behind her back, grinning at her rival, "I've got a _date_ with Sasuke-kun!" She said in a teasing sing-song voice to annoy the platinum blonde, which it did, extensively.

"Wha-?! Are you kidding me!?" Ino roared.

Tayuya frowned as the pair began to argue over the Uchiha, ignoring them for the most part, becoming distracted once again. Tenten rose and dusted herself off, heading toward the village. Tayuya got up and followed after her. "Uh, hey, Tenten, you mind helping me out?"

Tenten turned to the girl curiously, "Sure, what's going on?"

Tayuya frowned, trying to think of a way to voice her problems, "Well...it's...it's about Naruto."

Tenten gave the girl a look, then smirked, "Ho? What's the matter, did he do something you didn't like...or something you _did_ like?"

Tayuya scowled at her, "It's not that, ya bun-head!" She groused, crossing her arms in front of her chest in annoyance, "I just...don't know that much about him and, well, I wanna know more, okay?"

Tenten thought for a moment, taking in the girl's body language for a second, and grinned, "He's a total loser!"

"THE HELL!" Tayuya roared, "No he's not!"

"Got'cha!" Tenten yelled, grinning, "You do like him!"

" _Did_ not, _do_ not!" Tayuya snapped forming an 'X' with her arms, "Can you please be fuckin' serious here!"

Tenten giggled, "Okay, okay, sorry," she smiled, "Man, you sure are defensive of the guy."

"We're family, right?" Tayuya shrugged, "Isn't a family supposed to stick up for one another? Now stop changing the fucking subject."

The brunette grinned a little, "Well, he is a loser, that's for sure," she said, holding up her hand when the the irate ginger was about to have another go at her, "But, that's only because he really hates losing." She said, which made the girl stop short and give a little smile, "Honestly, Naruto and I were bunk mates back at the orphanage. Back then, he wasn't really well liked at all. None of the adults would let the other kids play with him, even though he seemed a little timid back then. I was only made to bunk with him because there was so little room, but he was a real sweetie back then, too."

"How's that?"

The girl gave a small smile, "Back then, after the attack on the village, it took a long time for things to recover." She said, thinking back on her childhood, "Even after a few years our forces in shinobi were still halved, so the village was always on high alert because even our Genin teams were all out on missions to make money for the village. Food and clothing were hard to get for orphans like us, but whenever there wasn't enough to go around, Naruto, even though he was so small, and barely got anything to eat himself, always shared with me." She said, frowning as it all started coming back to her in waves. Her eyes actually began to water, "I always looked at him like my little brother back then...but I was adopted, and never saw him again after that until I started hearing rumors about a blond academy student causing a commotion. I knew it had to be him. He loved his jokes, and never hesitated to pull one when he saw a chance."

"In all honesty, I wanted to find him and find out how he had been since we parted all those years ago," Tenten continued, sighing, "But I was kept so busy with my life in becoming a kunoichi, and working in my dad's forge that I never got the chance, and when we finally saw each other again, he didn't even know who I was." She shrugged, "That's the way it goes, I guess. It hurt, but after I saw that he'd survived so long on his own, I was happy knowing that, and by just how strong he was. He put me to shame in the Chunin exams. Hell, he put all of us to shame. I don't think I've ever seen anyone land a hit on Neji like he did, or run him through his paces unless it was Lee he was fighting."

Tayuya nodded as the entered the village together, "Didn't he have anyone he was close to when he was a kid?" She asked, frowning, "I mean, I was practically raised by Orochimaru, and even I had a friend."

Tenten shrugged, "I know he's always been close to the Ichiraku family that runs the ramen stand he eats at all the time," She said, which was obvious, given it was Naruto's favorite food. "And then there's Iruka sensei that taught him at academy. Matter of fact, I think it was Iruka that personally gave him his headband. And then there's...there _was_ Lord Third Hokage," she sighed, frowning as the red-head stopped in her tracks, "Sorry, Tayuya, you probably already knew that, didn't you?"

Tayuya shook her head, "No...no I didn't..." she said, frowning and biting her lip, "This is bad...I helped Orochimaru...I basically killed - "

Tenten reached out and touched her shoulder, "You did what any shinobi would have done," she said, making her look at the brunette, "You had your orders, and you followed them, and believe me, anyone would have if you lived under that guy's rule."

"Still," Tayuya breathed out shakily, "Naruto might hate me for this."

The girl gave Tayuya a small smile, "Wow, you really do like him, don't you?"

Tayuya sighed, "That's the thing, Bunny...I don't know."

=x=

Some time during the evening as the sun was moving closer to the horizon, we find a pair of youngsters strolling out of a small theater, arm-in-arm, smiling, or in one case, smirking. "That was such a sad movie," Sakura sighed as she leaned on Sasuke's shoulder, "but thanks for taking me out tonight, Sasuke-kun, I really enjoyed it."

Sasuke shrugged, "It's the least I could do," he said, giving a small smile of his own, "Besides, I liked it, too. Too bad 'D' was technically the only one that survived in the end. Where do you wanna go next?"

"Not sure," the girl said, enjoying herself nonetheless, "I'm not all that hungry, but maybe we could grab a bite to eat?"

Sasuke agreed with her, and both ended up grabbing dango at the local stand.

In the beginning, Sasuke had felt extremely awkward when the two of the met up, but Sakura had, to his surprise, easily taken the lead, and suggested the movie. Now as the ate in companionable silence, he was beginning to feel slightly awkward again. They had met up in the middle of the village, away from Sakura's house.

A good thing, if one were to ask Sakura, because her parents weren't exactly thrilled about her little date with the Uchiha. Especially her father. She loved her father very much, but he had acted out of character from his usual self. When he found out that she was to go on a date with the young Uchiha, he had paled rather considerably. It was common knowledge now that Sasuke had left the village, and been brought back at the cost of several members of the village's Genin, some of which had been in horrendous shape, such as Neji and Choji. Knowing this, Kizashi had feared for his daughter's safety around the young Genin.

But, now that their date was ending, Sasuke was intending to meet with them as he walked her back home.

It was just a few blocks from her house that Sakura voiced her worries. Sasuke understood, but it was inevitable, and completely unavoidable. Now the pair stood outside of the Haruno residence. Sakura reached out, lacing her fingers through Sasuke's, "You sure you wanna do this?" She asked, frowning, a slight blush on her face, "There's still time to bolt?"

Sasuke shook his head, "If this is gonna work, then don't I need to do this?" He asked, sighing, "Besides, I've seen some horrifying things thanks to my brother, so I'm not gonna chicken out from meeting your family."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Sakura sighed, reaching for the door. "Mom, Dad, I'm home!"

No sooner had see touched the door knob than the door burst open. "Sakura! I'm so glad you're - " A man all but roared as he burst out the door. The man was obviously Sakura's father, given the dulled pink hair styled into the shape of a cherry blossom. He looked half-crazed with worry, but all of that dropped from his face when he saw that his daughter wasn't alone. His normally warm, and caring features turned cold, "Oh, I see your teammate escorted you home."

"I wanted to meet with you," Sasuke spoke up, only slightly intimidated.

Kizashi snorted, and crossed his arms, "Shouldn't you have done that before taking my precious daughter out?" He asked with a frown as Sakura palmed her face with her free hand, "It's traditional for a young man calling on a young lady to ask permis-OHH!" The man was suddenly blasted out the door.

Sakura wisely pulled Sasuke down as her father was thrown over their heads by a well-placed kick to his lower back, sending him flying across the street. The attacker was none other than the man's own wife. Unlike her daughter, Mebuki Haruno was a caramel-blonde, but had the same fair skin that Sakura had. And it painfully obvious where Sakura had gotten her temper.

"Oh, Sakura-chan, you've brought your friend over!" She yelled enthusiastically, forgoing the fact that her husband was now across the street with his feet in the air, his head planted firmly in the ground. "Please, you must bring him in for tea!"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at the prone Haruno, "Uh, shouldn't we - "

"Oh, Kizashi-kun will be fine," the man's wife tittered, ushering the two youngsters inside, "He's a shinobi after all."

Sasuke had a feeling that Kizashi Haruno's well-being had nothing to do with his being a shinobi, and everything to do with the fact that he was most likely used to being tossed around like that. Sasuke made himself a solemn vow that if he ever married, whether it be Sakura, or any other girl that might have caught his fancy, he would learn very quickly to never let his guard down when at home. Or else he would be in a wheelchair long before his senior years.

"Hey," Kizashi moaned from across the street, "Don't I have a say in this?"

Apparently not.

=x=

Tenten stepped out of the shower in her little apartment, toweling her hair dry. "Hmm, nothing like a nice hot shower after a day like this," she sighed as the day finally ended for her. Her and Tayuya's little talk had gone well enough, but the girl had still seemed unsure of herself when they parted. Still, it was a good thing that she'd gotten her worries out in the open. Tenten found that she liked the overly sensitive red-head a great deal once she got passed the fact that she had once been an enemy.

She had gone to the hospital right after they had parted to see how her teammates had been doing. Lee was still being treated for his injuries during the Chunin exams, and fighting against one of Tayuya's former teammates had only aggravated his symptoms. Neji...had been released. It also worked her nerves that he hadn't told her he'd been released, either.

' _Not that I care,_ ' she mentally grumbled as she wrapped the towel around herself, ' _The stuck up prick can do what he likes._ ' So what if she'd been worried out of her mind when he was brought back and put in the ICU? Big deal. It wasn't as if she went to see him every day. Once or twice during the week had been good enough...or was it three?

She went to her bedroom and pulled on her favorite set pajamas, "Seriously, though, would it kill the guy to at least give me a heads-up about getting out?" She frowned when she sat on her bed, "I mean he had a huge gaping hole in his chest so close to his heart, and when he miraculously survives, and gets out, does he come and let me know? Of course not!"

She laid back across her bed, her arms splayed out on either side of her, "The next time I see that jerk, I'll -"

There was a knock at her door, "Tenten?"

Her head popped right up, "N-Neji?" She scrambled off the bed and hurried to the door.

Neji was standing there as she opened it, a bouquet of flowers in his hand, and a large blush across his face. "Er...hello, Tenten..."

"Hello yourself, " the girl said, eyeing the flowers, "Why didn't you tell me you were getting out today?"

"I didn't know," the young Hyuuga prodigy said truthfully, "Tsunade-sama just cleared me this morning, and, well I was talking with Hiashi-sama most of the day, and - "

"Stop," Tenten held up her hand, "I get it. Clan stuff...are those for me?" She asked, indicating the flowers he held, "Those aren't from Ino's flower shop, are they?"

Neji frowned, "No, they're not, I'm sorry to say," he said, absently scratching himself behind his head, "I wanted to get them from her, but she wouldn't stop asking me who they were for...I ended up picking these out of the family garden."

' _Ino,_ ' the girl thought with a role of her eyes as she took the flowers from him, giving them an appreciative sniff, "They're pretty...what's the occasion?"

"Do I need an occasion?" Neji asked, dodging the question.

"Giving someone flowers can mean a lot of things, Neji," Tenten stated, giggling slightly, "Mostly get well presents, or saying you're sorry about something. I'm not sick, and unless you're going to apologize for worrying me to death, then you really had no reason to bring these to me at - " she looked at the wall clock, "Nine o'clock at night."

Neji frowned when he heard the time, "I...suppose it is rather late, so I'll...just be going..."

Tenten rolled her eyes as the young man turned to leave, and reached out, trapping him with her arms around his neck, "Neji Hyuuga," she said, her lips dangerously close to his own, "You are, without a doubt, the most infuriating boy I've ever met outside Naruto Uzumaki, but I know you're not dense, so if you don't kiss me right now, I swear I'll start dating Lee."

There was no hesitation as his arms went around her, his left hand taking up position behind her head as he pulled her against him. Sloppy as it was, it was progress, Tenten had to relent that fact. The one way to get her way with Neji had always been to say it would either be him, or Lee. And it was a contest that Neji was not soon to lose.

A dreamily little smile was on the girl's lips as they parted from the red-faced Hyuuga, "Not bad," she grinned up at him, "What are your plans for tomorrow?"

"I-I was told to rest, and - "

"Good." Neji yelped as Tenten pulled him into her apartment, slamming the door behind him.

=x=

Tayuya lay staring up at the ceiling of her room, wide awake from her talk with Tenten earlier. She'd gotten home late without really meaning to, and found that Naruto was no where to be found inside the large house. Thinking that he was off somewhere with Jiraiya, she'd fixed herself a simple meal of cup ramen from Naruto's huge stock, and decided to soak off the day in the hot springs.

But even that couldn't ease the tension she was feeling. Not in her body, no. Her mind was racing over what she'd found out. Naruto did indeed have very few he could call close. And she had aided in killing one of those precious few.

She rolled over onto her side, facing the pale light filtering there the rice paper doors, ' _What would he think of me?_ ' She sighed, remembering that day like it was yesterday. She'd watched that incredible battle between three Hokages, and her former master. Hiruzen Sarutobi had been, in her opinion, an amazing shinobi. Even when he had been pierced through with Kusanagi, he had managed to inflict such a grievous wound on Orochimaru that he was now almost an invalid.

And it was that same man that had meant so much to Naruto that she had watched die at the hands that creature. From Tenten she had found out that Naruto spent more time with the aged Hokage than he did with Iruka Umino, often visiting with each other when he was younger, or getting chased through the village after one of his pranks.

Which was how he'd come to befriend the former Hokage's grandson. ' _It must've been like what Genosuke-niisan was to me._ ' She thought, thinking back on her brother-figure. He had been the only person in her youth that acknowledged her, and made her feel like she was still human at times. ' _And I helped take him away from him._ ' She thought as she felt tears beginning to sting her eyes, ' _How am I supposed to make that right?_ '

Knowing that she wasn't going to get any sleep, she kicked the blanket off and stood, moving to slide the screen door open, and sat down on the patio. Looking out across the compound, she saw just how greatly the Uzumaki compound had blossomed back to life under Naruto's tender care. Where once the the are was nothing but crumbling houses overrun with grass, and vines stood what could have been a small village.

Still, with only the two of them, the compound felt empty.

Emptiness was nothing new to her. Her whole life had been as such since being taken in by Orochimaru. She hadn't even known what her reasons behind living had been save for the fear of dying by Orochimaru's twisted hands.

Now that she had been away from him for so long, she was starting to feel more of what she thought a normal kunoichi was supposed to feel like. ' _I'm...lonely..._ ' She tucked her legs up against her chest, sighing, ' _I used to like being alone, though...what the hell's happening to me?_ ' She looked up as the moon passed behind a few stray clouds.

' _Naruto...he's like the sun..._ ' she smiled as the pale light filtered down on her once more, ' _He's always so warm and caring, even towards me._ ' She felt her tears spill over as she buried her face in her knees. "I don't wanna lose him."

Meanwhile...

"So the seal removal is going to take place tomorrow?" Tsunade asked as she sat with Jiraiya at one of their local bars, "Are you sure he's ready for it?"

Jiraiy nodded as he took a drink from his glass, "He's as ready as he'll ever be." He said, pouring himself another round, "Waiting anymore would just be a waste of time. For all we know, Orochimaru could be on his way right now to try and take control of Sasuke, or Tayuya." He said, taking another long drink, "We'd like to take care of Anko first, and then start on Tayuya. After that's done, we'll see how Naruto's fairing, and take a shot at Sasuke if he's feeling up to it. I've also been asked to bring that Hyuuga boy from the Branch family with us. Naruto said something about helping him, too."

Tsunade shook her head, "I'll see what I can do about that, because I think I know what he's planning," she said, looking down at her own drink, "I just hope this works."

* * *

 _ **So sorry again for taking so long. Either way, thanks to all those that have held onto this story for so long, and waited patiently. I now have a clear vision of where this story will go, though it'll be cliche...what the hell am I saying! There's no such thing as cliche on this site because it's all already been done twice at least! HA!**_

 ** _Also, given that I'm showing so many different points of view, the chapters are possibly going to be longer, so be prepared for that._**

 ** _Please leave a review!_**


	9. Chapter 9: Turbulent Waters

**_9: Turbulent Waters_**

* * *

Hundreds of miles from the Land of Fire lay the Land of Lightning of which rivaled that of Konoha in power. The Cloud and Leaf had been bitter rivals since the destruction of the Isle of Uzu, home of the fabled Uzumaki clan, and their village: The Village of Longevity, Of Whirling Tides, and most importantly The Village Hidden in the Eddies. All of these were of the same origin for they were in fact the same shinobi village.

The Isle was in fact two, one containing the legendary shinobi village, and the other being the prosperous Negi Island which operated under the trade routes that shipped the goods that made the villages great.

It was upon these shores that a young woman washed up upon. She was weakened and battered, her clothes filthy and tattered from miles of travel. Her once vibrant red hair was now dulled and dirtied with sea salt and sweat.

She stumbled ashore from the raft that bore her, and collapsed into the sand, "I'm finally home," she muttered weakly, crawling on her hands and knees toward the grassy area just ahead of her. "I'm finally free."

It felt as if it had been centuries instead of the ten years since leaving her home, and traveling to that accursed island to aid in the creation of a monstrous summoning beast. In the end, it hadn't been worth it. The beast had been uncontrollable, and had to be destroyed. In the end she had made the creature chase her to the mouth of a volcano, convincing some of the other creatures to push it into the boiling pit of lava far below.

She had been the only one to survive the monster's wrath.

And now she was all alone once again. Her parents were long gone, having died when she was young. Her only other family had moved off long ago to escape the loneliness of the once proud isle. "I wonder if my little cabin is still there," she muttered, finally finding the strength she needed to rise back to her feet.

Long ago, before her ancestral home had fallen in the Second Great War, Uzu had been a fair land, with rolling hills, but now, thanks to the destruction, large craters dotted the island where once proud temples had stood.

She kept walking, ignoring the moss and vine covered ruins of the old village, her mind focused on her little hutch of a cabin, and if it still stood. She had only been eight when she had left the island, and ten long years was a long time for a small dwelling such as hers to stand without maintenance. As she rose over one of the natural hills, she sighed when sh caught sight of her home...or what was left of it.

The little cabin that she had once known was now a pile of rubble, knocked down by the weather, no doubt about it. The girl sighed and sat down on the grass tiredly. "So now what?" She wondered out loud to herself, looking up at the passing clouds. "With all the whirlpools around the island, I don't think I'd be lucky enough to get passed them a second time without a proper boat."

She got back up and headed back down to the beach. Looking across the roiling waters, the mainland looked to be a few hundred miles away if she cut right across the waters of the Kanashii Ocean. But that would have been suicide. Even with her large reserves, expanded after so long in dealing with unruly beasts, she didn't have enough to get to the mainland fast enough.

Her other options were to stay put, and hope a merchant ship passed by closely enough to spot her, or to hoof it over to Negi Island, and make a mad dash to the Land of Noodles. That much she could do, but it was risky all the same. Her chakra reserves were large enough to cross over the smaller area, but it was wrought with large sea creatures. None fiercer than the gigantic horned whales that called the waters between Kanashii Ocean and the Kaizoku Sea their home. Larger than normal whales, they were surprisingly gentle when approached with caution. The problem was the equally large predators that saw the whales as food.

The bulls, when they sensed a threat, became violent, and attacked without mercy. The large horns on their head served them well as weapons should whatever they were after didn't get out of the way in time.

Still, it was a risk she would have to take if she wanted to start a new life. Staying in the ruins of Uzu without anyone else around did not sit well with her. There were too many ghosts from the past haunting the isle. Both friend and foe alike. It was why she had left in the first place.

Sighing to herself, she set off along the beach toward the next island.

=x=

Sasuke was laying flat on his back looking up at the ceiling of his apartment, his nerves making it impossible to relax in the early morning. Today was the day, the day that Naruto would attempt taking the curse mark from his neck. He sat up and went to wash his face noting the dark circles under his eyes. Despite his surprisingly enjoyable evening with Sakura and her family, the weight of the entire situation had hit him and hit him hard when he returned home to find and Anbu shinobi waiting for him to relay the message about the following morning.

It was just past dawn when he the knock came to his door.

He opened the door to find another Anbu waiting for him, "Uchiha-san, I am to escort you to the Uzumaki Compound's sealing chambers to remove Orochimaru's Curse of Heaven from your person."

"Understood," Sasuke nodded, "Do I need anything to prepare?"

"I was not informed of anything needed from your part, save for yourself." The masked shinobi said, "Shall we go?"

Sasuke nodded, and followed the shinobi out.

Meanwhile...

Tenten groaned as she heard a loud pounding on her door, rolling over to try and drown out the noise with a pillow over her head. "Gai-sensei, it's too early to be up," she groaned, feeling a pair of arms wrap around her. "Make it go away, Neji."

"I'd rather not," said the young Hyuuga sleepily, "After all, what would he think if he found out I spent the night?" He said, a hint of laughter in his voice.

Tenten sighed in contentment, "It's not like we did anything," she giggled, "but then, knowing Gai - "

"We'd never hear the end of it," Neji finished for her.

"TENTEN-CHAN!" Gai roared, pounding on the door again, "I NEED TO FIND NEJI-SAN AT ONCE! NARUTO-KUN WANTS TO TEST OUT HIS NEW SEAL-BREAKING JUTSU ON HIS SEAL!"

Tenten sighed, nearly falling back asleep,"Oh...how nice..." she yawned, snuggling back into Neji, "A seal-breaking...Seal? WHAT!?" She and Neji came awake at once.

"Did he really just say that?" Neji asked loudly.

"Is that Neji-kun I hear?" Gai asked in a slightly quieter voice, "Neji-kun, just what business do you have in Tenten-chan's apartment this early in the morning?"

Neji and Tenten looked at each other, one whose Pj's were ruffled and half open, while the other's shirt was somewhere on the floor.

"How...are we gonna explain this?" Tenten asked, at a loss.

"I...have no idea..." said the Hyuuga genius.

"NEJI!" Gai roared, the front door slamming open, "GENIN OR NOT, YOU TWO ARE TOO YOUNG TO BE ENGAGING IN ELICIT SEXUAL RELATIONS!"

"Three," Tenten grabbed up her alarm clock, "Two," she brought if back for a throw, "ONE!" She hurled it just as her bedroom door crashed open.

"IT IS MOST UNYOUTH - GAH!" Might Gai may have been a Jonin, but even he couldn't dodge a thrown object thrown at him be a weapons specialist, especially not one that was undergoing strength training with the most powerful Kunoichi in the world.

Tenten smirked, "And that's what you get for sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, Sensei." She said, looking at her boyfriend, "Now, why don't we get out of here before he wakes up?"

"Good idea," Neji nodded, "He said Naruto was looking for me, so we should probably go there."

With that they snuck out of the apartment, leaving Gai knocked out on the floor with a goofy look on his face.

Meanwhile, as the two youngsters made their way toward the Uzumaki home, said blond was already preparing. The Sealing Chambers were beneath the compound underneath a the large tree in the center of the home. It spanned the entire main house, and was covered in anti-jutsu seals, meaning that once inside, no one would be able to cast a jutsu unless they were of Uzumaki decent.

Naruto himself was bare-chested, and covered in a light sheen of sweat. He was moving through the various hand seals that the seal he would use required. On the back of both hands was the kanji for 'Sea'.

"How're you feeling, kid?" Jiraiya asked from where he stood within the room. "Nervous?"

"Not really," Naruto said, frowning, "I just hope this works." Naruto admitted, "I mean, what if this isn't meant for Curse marks? If it's meant for breaking simple seals, then - "

"Sealing arrays cane do just about anything, Naruto," Jiraiya said, trying to ease his apprentice's worries. "The only thing that limits them is the user's skill, and their imagination. You'll do fine, Naruto."

The blond nodded, frowning. "When is Anko supposed to get here?"

Jiraiya shrugged, "Not sure. Tsunade's supposed to be bringing her." He said, frowning, "Tsunade also sent Gai after Neji so he'll be here soon. Are you sure about that, by the way? Taking Neji's seal from him is gonna cause a shit storm with the main branch, let alone the branch family. They'll be after you to get the seal off of them, but the main branch may just try to silence you."

Naruto shrugged, "I promised Neji that I'd change the ways of the Hyuuga clan, and that's just what I'm gonna do, consequences be damned." He said, frowning as he set about placing sealing tags around the room, "Besides, if they come after me, I can file a complaint with the Hokage, and either make them back off, or take responsibility for the damages they cause."

Jiraiya looked at him in approval, "You've been studying. That's good, as clan head of the Uzumaki, you'll need to know what you can and can't do if you're attacked by a rival clan here in your own village."

Tayuya came down the steps, looking around the room, "Uh, hey, guys...Tsunade's here, and so's Neji and Anko..." She said, looking from the Sannin, to the blond, "And I think Emo-boy should be here soon, so - "

"Now who's nervous?" Naruto smiled at her, making the girl blush, "Come on, Tayuya-chan, this should all go just as we planned."

"Is that why you're testing it on Neji first?" Tayuya asked, crossing her arms suspiciously.

Jiraiya chuckled, "I'm gonna go up and guide the others down here," he said, moving passed Tayuya, "You two behave yourselves while I'm up there."

"Yeah, yeah," Tayuya said, waving her hand at the man as he left, "You're the one that needs to behave, ya old perv."

"Such cruel words from your girlfriend, Naruto!" Jiraiya grasped at his chest dramatically.

" _She's/I'm_ not _my/his_ girlfriend!" Both youths shouted in perfect sync, which made them blush, and the old man cackled as he ascended the stairs.

Tayuya huffed and crossed her arms, "Jeez, what a jerk!" She snapped, looking back toward the blond, "So...how's this gonna work?"

"I'm pretty much going to be pulling the seal right off of you," Naruto said, frowning, "We already tested it on a high-level chakra binding seal that Pervy Sage placed on himself, and it looked like it was just lifting right off of his skin."

Tayuya reached up and placed her hand over the nape of her neck, "Will...will it hurt?"

Naruto looked at her sadly, "Yeah...it's gonna hurt a lot...even the old man couldn't keep back a few yells."

Tayuya nodded, "Okay...well, it's probably nothing I've not been through before, I guess. I mean, serving Orochimaru gaurantees pain." She said, her voice trembling, "And...it's no more than I deserve..."

"No one deserves pain," Naruto said, frowning.

Tayuya gulped, "I do...Listen, Naruto, there's something I need to tell you."

Naruto looked at her, listening.

The girl took a deep breath, ' _No going back now._ ' She thought, "So I was talking to Tenten yesterday, and she said you were really close to the Third Hokage," she said, gaining a nod from Naruto. "Listen...when...when Orochimaru attacked the village, he fought and killed the Third...but that was only because he was able to reanimate the two previous Kages...and because...my former teammates and I created a four-corner barrier to keep him from getting any help from the his Anbu." Naruto looked at her with wide eyes, but Tayuya wasn't finished, yet. "It's my fault, Naruto. If I'd runaway like I'd so wanted to back then, he'd still be alive."

Naruto turned back around, making sure all of his seals were in place, "Why tell me this now?" He asked without looking at her. "You didn't kill him, Tayuya-chan...none of you did. From what I've heard, Hokage-jiji used a forbidden seal that would've killed him anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered either way. He died exactly how he wanted to die. You had nothing to do with that."

"But I - "

"And you were a kunoichi of the Sound Village, following orders from your Kage," Naruto put in, finally turning to look at her. "If you'd turned your back on your team, then I would've thought little of you, but all you were doing was the job your were given. That's what a shinobi does."

Tayuya felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders, "You...you don't hate me, then?"

Naruto looked at her in surprise, "Hate you? How could I do that!?" Naruto yelled, "You're probably the most awesome girl I've ever met, and you're family...kind'a, awe you get what I mean, ya know?!" The blond ranted, scrubbing his hands through his hair in agitation.

Tayuya smiled at him then, "Thanks alot, Shithead-kun."

"Can't you just call me by my name?" Naruto groaned, "I thought we were past all of that 'shithead' bull?"

"Nope," Tayuya grinned, "Never."

It was then that Jiraiya, followed by Tsunade, Anko, Neji, Tenten, Sasuke and an Anbu guard came into the chamber. "Are we all ready?" Jiraiya asked of the blond.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, I just need Neji to sit here," he said, pointing to a circular pentagram seal on the floor surrounded by five candles. "And take off your headband, I can't have anything in the way of the seal."

Neji nodded, reaching up to take the band from his forehead, revealing the abhorrent seal on his forehead. Tayuya frowned when she saw it. She'd heard about the enslavement of the branch Hyuuga family, but she'd never seen one in person. For a level-3 seal master like herself, she was easily able to see what if was capable of. Removing it? Not a chance, not with her current skills.

"Are you sure this'll work?" Tenten asked worriedly.

Naruto nodded, "This'll work, I promise, and you know I never go back on a promise."

"Good luck, Dobe," Sasuke said, frowning.

Naruto sighed as Neji sat within the circle, "Alright, Neji, I have to warn you, this is gonna hurt like hell," he warned, but the young Hyuuga prodigy just shook his head.

"A few moments of pain are well worth being rid of this mark, Naruto-kun," he said, "I live every moment of my life in fear of the clan's elders activating the seal, and killing me with it. Once it is removed, however, it can never be cast again, as an unbreakable law of the clan." He looked up at the blond with determination in his pupil-less eyes. "Do your worst, Naruto Uzuamki."

Naruto nodded and clapped his hands together, "Each of these candles represents one of the five main elements," he said, "With five elements, I will pull the Caged Bird Seal from your very being. Are you ready?"

"I am prepared."

Naruto took five tags from his jacket, and tore them to shreds, tossing them into the air above them, "God of the Eastern Sea, Amei," he said, forming the snake seal, "God of the Western Sea, Shukuryou," Dragon, "God of the South Sea, Kyojou," Ox, "God of the Northern Sea, Gukyou!" Bird, "Gods of the Four Seas, fend off one hundred demons, and dispell the curse!"

The five candles around the sealing array Neji sat in flickered to life, each one a different color of flame. Once they were all lit, a beam of light formed a circle, connecting them, and followed the pattern of the pentagram. It then descended down on Neji. As soon as it came into contact with the seal on his head, he was immediately assaulted with a blinding pain, as if something large were being drawn from his head from behind his skull. He groaned in pain, forcing him down on his hands and knees, his forehead against the floor as the seal descended ever lower. The mark on his head glowed green as it fought against the seal, and Neji began to howl in pain as the sensation grew stronger and stronger. The five elemental seal reached the floor, alighting the seal beneath the Hyuuga, who reared up, screaming in agony.

Naruto moved then, reaching out to place his hand against the mark in a grabbing motion, and hauled back, a sharp crack sounding through out the room. The light died down, and both young shinobi fell flat on their backs.

"Neji!" Tenten rushed forward, just as Tayuya did as she tried to get to Naruto. Jiraiya and Tsunade were right behind them.

"Are they alright?" Sasuke asked as he made way for them.

Tayuya picked up the prone blond as he tried to sit up, dizzy from the experience, "I'm alright," Naruto groaned, "Man, that sure took a lot out of me...Neji, you okay over there?"

Neji groaned from where he was being held by Tenten, "I'd...be fine if Tenten wasn't trying to smother me." He said, making the girl loosen her grip on him.

"Sorry." The brunette squeaked, looking up at the seal...or where it had been, "Oh my gosh, it's gone!"

Neji looked at her, and placed a hand on his forehead, bringing with it a smear of green ink, "I...It's...I don't believe it!"

Naruto chuckled, "Believe it," he grinned, giving his friend a thumbs up, "I told you I could get it off of you, -ttebayo!"

"Yeah, yeah, great, the jutsu worked," Anko said, making her presence known, "Can please get to me? I want this fucking hickey off of me like ten years ago!"

"Give it a minute, Anko-san," Tsunade said, checking the blond over, "That was a massive strain on Naruto-kun's body, as well as his chakra. He may not have enough to - "

"I can do it," Naruto said, rising back to his feet, smiling at the snake woman, "I'm ready when you are, Anko-neechan."

Anko felt herself blushing at the title givn by the blond, but shrugged out of her coat either way. "You need a clear shot at the seal, right? Do I need to take off anything else?"

"Oh, yeah, please d-Gah!" Jiraiya started, but was soon silenced by Tsunade's fist in his face.

"It's fine that way," Naruto said hurriedly, the woman's figure already too distracting for the hormonal teenager. Tayuya saw this and gave him a sharp pinch on his arm, "Ow! What the hell, Tayuya!"

"Just get on with it!" Tayuya huffed, sauntering away from the blond, and leaning against the wall near Sasuke.

"Smooth," Sasuke muttered.

"Shut it, emo-fag!" Tayuya hissed at him.

Naruto looked at the red-head in confusion as Anko sat down in the sealing array, "Okay, Blondie-kun, let's do this." She said, a slightly nervous pitch in her voice. Naruto nodded, and began his mantra again. This time, as the seal began its descent, the mark on Anko's neck reacted, a bolt of purplish chakra shooting out before it could touch her. Anko grunted in discomfort as the seal forced its way down on her, and forced her to the ground just as it had done with Neji, only the array on her neck attempted to break free of its confines and spread.

Luckily, the seal met with the brother seal on the ground, and Naruto moved in for his part, grasping Anko's shoulder, and hauling back. The seal erupted in dark, rancid chakra that filled the room with a chill as it rose in the form of a black, red-eyed snake, hissing as it dispersed a moment later.

Again, Naruto fell back, but was caught by Jiraiya this time before he could hit the ground as Tsunade moved to help Anko. "That's it, you need to rest after that one!" The elder sage growled, "I'm able to sense chakra, Naruto, and you barely have any left!"

"I agree," Tsunade snapped, "Anko's out cold! We need to get you two up stairs, now!"

"B-but Tayuya-chan, and T-Teme..." Naruto groaned, his eyes rolling back into his head as he fell unconscious.

Jiraiya shook his head, picking the boy up in his arms, "It'll have to wait, kiddo," he sighed, looking at the girl, "Could you go up and get a bed ready for him, and Anko? Tsunade and I will bring them up, and get some food ready. At least then we'll make sure he has the energy to keep going."

"I can do that," Sasuke volunteered, "I know how to cook."

"Me, too," Tenten said, helping Neji up, "And Neji could use some rest as well."

Neji just gave her a weak smile, "Really, Tenten-chan, I'm fine."

"You look paler than usual," Tenten added, hauling him toward the stairs.

=x=

Orochimaru looked down at his newly acquired hands, "Hmm, this body is quite something." he said, flexing his fingers, the tips turning black as it continued down his wrist, "To think such a rare ability was right under my nose this entire time."

"Not really, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said as he entered the room, smiling with glee, "You see, that body was one of my most successful experiments."

"Oh?" The man smiled in return, "How do you mean?"

"Well, you see, it's all thanks to Kido-san's research." Kabuto explained, "The artificial Kekkei Genkai narcotics worked to an extent, but I had no idea that this one was one of your marked shinobi."

"He wasn't, really," Orochimaru said, "After the battle was over, and this one was left standing, I had to mark him. After seeing how strong he was, it was a wonder I hadn't done so sooner. Tell me, have you had other successes?"

"Very few," Kabuto shook his head, "The Steel style was a lucky strike since humans naturally have iron in their bodies, which in turn can be turned to steel given the right components. But I am close to break through with another ability, perhaps you could help me?"

"I'd be delighted, t-" The Snake Sannin suddenly frowned, "Hmm...odd, I can no longer sense Anko-chan's curse mark."

Kabuto looked surprised, "She was killed?"

"No, I don't believe that to be so," he said, stroking his chin, and smiled, "It seems that our dear friends in the Leaf have figured out a way to remove my little gift." He said, weaving through a few hand signs, "There, now should dear Sasuke-kun's mark come into danger, the one threatening it will be quite surprised."

* * *

 _ **What has Orochimaru done? Who is the young woman traveling to the Land of Fire? And how is she connected to the Uzumaki? So many questions, and so little time. Find out next time as Naruto's attempts to remove the Curse Marks continue!**_

 _ **Please Review!**_


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